The Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) and an Igbo sociocultural organisation, the Odinala Cultural Heritage Foundation (OCHIE Igbo), have partnered on the use of mother tongue to promote science curriculum in the region.

Mr. Caleb Onwe, the National Publicity Secretary of OCHIE Igbo, made this known in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.

Onwe said UNIZIK, through its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Charles Esimone, had approved March 15 for the unveiling of the OCHIE-Igbo STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Project Committees in partnership with the university.

He said the proposed OCHIE Igbo STEM School (Igbo Silicone Valley) would be sited in UNIZIK and would take off on a virtual note targeting to enroll Igbo children from all parts of the world.

“Over the years, educationists, researchers and curriculum development experts have argued that children perform better when taught in their mother tongue.

“The efficacy of the above claim lies with the inroads and quantum of converts which the missionaries made in Igboland on their arrival.

“Therefore, the target of the OCHIE Igbo STEM Project is to raise a generation of Igbo children that can innovate, conceive, invent and interpret phenomena in Igbo language.

“This way, the educational barriers and challenges associated with the learning sciences in our primary and secondary schools would be a thing of the past,” Onwe said

He said three committees would be inaugurated on March 15 at the university.

“The Coordination Committee is led by Prof. Joseph Ikechebelu, Deputy Vice Chancellor in Charge of Administration, with Okoro Chinedum Benedict as the committee’s Co Chairman.

“The Curriculum Development Committee is led by Prof. Lilian Akudolu of the Faculty of Education.

“Igbo Translation Committee is led by Prof. Thecla Udemmadu of the Department of Igbo,” he concluded.