-Children delights their parents
In bid to inculcate Nigerian cultural values on its pupils, Unique Prella Montessori Nursery Primary and college, Ikorodu, Lagos State, held its Cultural Day event on Saturday.
The event, featuring an array of diverse cultural dances, dramas and presentations of local delicacies, gave the pupils an opportunity to showcase their native attires and engage in extracurricular activities to the delight of their watching parents.
According to the Proprietress, Unique Prella Montessori Nursery and Primary School, Mrs. Owenaze Blessing, the event was organized to promote Nigerian culture among the school pupils.
“We welcome everyone to this occasion when we celebrate and showcase our different traditions and culture. We are delighted to have you join us to celebrate our various cultures and language. We want the pupils to understand the importance of their culture and teach them to be proud of their origin,” Owenaze Blessing said.
“Culture is simply the characteristics and way of life of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, music, attire, art, and a million other things. People should cherish their languages, and traditions. That is what makes us unique,” he stated.
As part of the event, poems and parables were performed in Nigeria’s t ethnic language; Yoruba by teachers and students for this year.
The highlight of the event was the presentation of prizes to the top dance troupes and winners of the cooking competition.
A parent, Mr. Abayomi B.K gave an insight of the history and origin of the Yoruba people and culture. He implored parents to endeavour to teach their children how to speak their native dialects, as that will make the children to be self-assured in their origins and identities.
“It’s demoralizing seeing parents communicating in foreign language with their children at home at the expense of their dialect,” he said. “Some children as old as 14 years do not know their source. Some cannot fluently speak their native language, and I don’t blame them nor the schools but their parents.”
“Most parents can’t speak their mother tongue language, talk less of tutoring their children, and I find it highly disgusting. I implore parents to make it a duty to educate their children on the various cultures, customs and traditions. It will enhance peaceful co-existence and unites the family bond,” Abayomi stated.