Language is a conventional system of sounds that enables man to communicate among its group

and his language abilities are the necessary tools to receive messages and express his or her
feelings as he or she pleases. The role of national language in the education system of a country
is very important and can never be over emphasize let me start by looking at the National
language although we can not look at the building block of national for this article we will
narrow our discussion only on its role ,importance itself because without understanding
critically the subject national language we cannot move forward in educational system look at
the positive or negative impact this national language will have on educational system.natrional
language is the language that has been widely accepted either by laws ,consistitution or by birth
to be the mode of communication among a group of people ,community , country or even the
world at large,also national language is a language which has some connection –de facto or
dejure- with a people and perhaps by extension the territory they occupy.The term is used
variously and it may represent the national identity of a nation or country.C.M.B. Brann, with
reference to Africa suggest that there are “four quite distinctive meaning” for national language
in polity;

1. Territorial language of a particular people.

2. Regional language
3. Language in common or community language used through out a country
4. Central language used by government and perhaps having a symbolic value.
For example in Singapore the Malay language is the national and official language since
it’s the natural language of the malay Singaporeans who were originally the
inhabitants.meaning while in Malaysia the national language is malay and official
language is both malay and English having understood what national language is all
about , we will critically look into what educational system entales.

As we all know education is the bedrock of any society and for a country to move
forward politically, economically technologically e.t.c the educational system should be a
model that should be structured in such a way to benefit the country.Education in the
largest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind character or
physical ability of an individual .In its technical sense ,education is the process by which
society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge,skills and values from one
generation to another.
Etymologically the education is derived from educare (latin) “bring up” .While
educational system is the pattern ,mode and sequencial arrangement on how this skills
,knowledge,and values is been transmitted from one generation to another .
that educational system is the pattern .mode of which education, evaluating and learning
is been carried out and it involves legislation,administration,and planning. Educational
system varies from country to country although there is effort by world leaders to make it
in such a way that it would be unified. We would look at the fundamental that is widely
 accepted globally the systems of formal education since is a concept referring to the
process in which students can learn something.

1.Pre-School education: this is the provision of education for children before the
commencement of statutory and obligatory education usually between the age of three
and five, depending on the jurisdiction.
2.Primary Education: this consist this consist of the first 5-7 years of the formal
,structured education in general ,main education consist of six or eight years of schooling
starting at age of five or six ,although this varies between sometimes within countries.
3.secondary education:This comprises of the formal education that occurs during
adolescence it is characterized by transistion from typical compulsory comprehensive
primary education for minors ,to the optional,selective tertiary “post secondary”or higher
education for example university,vocational school for adults. The exact boundary
between primary and secondary education also varies from country to country and even
within them,but generally it is around the seventh to tenth year of schooling and it occurs
mainly during the teenage years .
4.Higher education:This is alos called tertiary,third stage or post secondary education,is
the non-compulsory educational level that’s follows the completion of a school providing
secondary education such as a high school,secondary school.it is normally taken to
include undergraduate ,postgraduate as well as vocational education and training.It
generally results in the receipt of certificates ,diplomas,or academic degrees.Higer
education includes research and socil services activites of the universities ,and within the
realm of teaching ,it includes both the undergraduate level and the graduate level.

5.Ault education:This is the practice of teaching and educating adults and it is normally takes
place at the work place through extension or continuing education courses at secondary schools
or at colleges or universities.having understood the rudimenst and building block of an
educational system and what national language entales ,it will be more easier for us to critically
look into the role this national language either positive or negative,the impact it has had or would
have on the educational system.Also for better understanding of the subject matter I will use
Nigeria as a case study to see what role the national language has played over the educational
system.first of all,nigeria is a multi-linguistic country comprising of over hundred minor
languages and three major languages before the invasion of the colonial ruler the british as .In
nigeriaduring the colonial era,Nigeria comprising of three major languages Yoruba ,hausa,igbo
and over one hundered minor languages so the british were face withed challenges of
communicating with leaders ,people of the region.initially indeginous languages wrere used
The role of national language cannot be overemphasizes and as such it is more to it hwne
children are growing up .For them to develop useful skills and effective language skills to
acquire education, it is necessary that they are assisted to receive education in the
language they use athome and outside home.Giving them their education in other
languages displaces them.moreover they will not be able to articulate their thoughts in a
way that is convincing.There are two reasons firstly,all languages are culturally
bound,that is hey communicate the culture and secondly there are no two langaguages
that express the same way to the extent that their grammar and use could be matched
into one to one correspondence.let me recall the UNICEF’S charter that children
everywhere have to have their education in their own languages up to the age of 15 or 16
years.if any country goes contrary to this public mandate I will say they are doing It
unintentionally.looking at the role of national language in Nigeria will give a better
understanding of where we are going to.formal western type of education was brought
into the country by christain missionaries just before the middle of nineteenth
century.education in the country were completely left to those missionaries to
decide(Taiwo 1980:10-11;Fafunwa 1974:92).And given the well- known belief of most
such missionaries ,first that the African child was best taught in his native language(Hair
1967,6),and secondly the interests of christain would be served by actually propagating
that religion in indigenous languages,it is not all surprising that the teaching and learning
of indigenous languages received much geniue attention in those days of western type of
education in the country.There was drastic shift from the study with mother tongue
langgugue to English when the certification became conditional upon passing English
and parents encouraged thiern ward that it was financially more rewarding to study
English than indigenous languages.
Ma laysia’s national language is bahasa melayu and nigeria’s national language and linguga
franca is English language.Bahasa melayu and English language is the most common and major
languages spoken in Malaysia and has been assigned or given roles to play in the nations
education system ,where as in Nigeria English language is the only language been given the task
to play in educational system,language unification,e.t.c.malaysia adopted bahasa melayu in 1967
as their national language and since then been instutionalised with a modest degree of
success.the austronesian language has an illustrious history as a linguag franca throughout the
region,though English is widely spoken because it was the administrative language of the british
colonizers.The importance of English language with regards to rapid industrilazation can not be
overruled coupled to fact thatit has lead to the solidification of It as the language of business in
Malaysia.Although the founding fathers of Malaysia took it up to themselves and made sure that
the bahasa kebangsaan is adopted to be the national language for national unity and cultural
indentity where as English language was adopted to the language of acquisition of
knowlegede,science,technology and their roles are not mutually exclusive.In nigeriaduring the
colonial era,Nigeria comprising of three major languages Yoruba ,hausa,igbo and over one
hundered minor languages so the british were face withed challenges of communicating with
leaders ,people of the region.initially indeginous languages wrere used
As we all know education is the bedrock of any society and for a country to move forward political
wise,economical wise,e.t.c the educational system has to fit into the principles and will of the
people.Education system is the pattern,mode of which education,evaluation and learning is been
adopted or carried out .This involves legislation,administration and planning.educational system varies
from nation to nation althoughthere is effort to by world leaders in the recent times to have a
unification of the system.