Ndịgbo have been urged to take more proactive measures towards promoting Igbo language not only in Nigeria but across the world.
Speaking in Awka, the Vice president of Ọhaneze Ndịgbo worldwide Chief Damian Okeke Ogene said this will protect the language from the present threat of extinction.
Paul Ezeoke reports that Chief Okeke Ogene said language remains the major and enduring identity of people which distinguishes them from people from other socio-cultural environment and should be guarded with pride.
He disclosed that Ọhaneze Ndịgbo was presently working to partner some corporate organisations and groups to institute different categories of cultural competitions including competitions in Igbo language essays in schools as part of measures to encourage pupils and students to master the language and take pride in their mother tongue and cultural heritage.
He cautioned school managements and teachers against punishing any child for speaking Igbo language in school, stressing that speaking a mother tongue does not in anywhere stop a child from learning foreign languages.
The elder stateman urged governments of South East States to make study of Igbo language compulsory at all levels of education in the zone as was proposed earlier to restore the language to its place of pride.
Chief Okeke Ogene reminded parents of the danger of alienating their children from their cultural environment by encouraging them to communicate in foreign languages at home instead of their mother tongue.
Also speaking, a community leader Chief Joseph Ezekwe observed that Ndịgbo have rich cultural heritage the Western world has continued to respect and admire which should be celebrated and transferred from one generation to another.
Chief Ezekwe made it clear that forcing children to speak foreign languages does not make any child brilliant in anyway but would rather deny him or her balance education and natural psychological development.