This archive report was first published on 26 July 2019.
On July 26, 2019, a proposal by nominated MCA Silvia Museiya sparked debate on the importance of preserving indigenous languages in Nairobi County.
The proposal, which aims to make it mandatory for nursery school children to learn vernacular from their parents or relatives at home and express it in class, has been necessitated by the need to revive indigenous languages facing extinction in urban centres.
According to Ms Museiya, teaching young pupils between the ages of three and seven to communicate in their mother tongues would go a long way in reviving vernacular languages.
"I just need the children to be able to identify with an African language and culture and minimise the Western cultural influence in our society," Ms Museiya said as quoted by Daily Nation.
Ms Museiya believes that children at this age can easily pick up many languages as they are at the peak of learning, and that teaching them to communicate in their mother tongues would prevent scenarios where children cannot interact with rural folks due to language barriers.
