World Teachers’ Day: Edugist spotlight Ahmad Azeez, an educator that brings chemistry to life in Yoruba

For many African students, encountering scientific terminology in English can introduce an additional layer of difficulty to subjects that are already conceptually demanding.

A student may understand a scientific concept when it is explained informally in a familiar language, yet struggle when the same idea is presented through unfamiliar terminology in an examination-oriented classroom.

That does not necessarily mean the student lacks the intellectual capacity to understand the subject. Sometimes, the barrier may be the language through which the concept is being communicated.

This is where Azeez’s experiment becomes relevant beyond Yoruba-speaking communities.

The question is not simply whether Chemistry can be taught in Yoruba. The broader question is whether African education systems should do more to develop indigenous languages as vehicles for scientific knowledge.

Across the continent, this conversation is particularly important because Africa is home to thousands of languages, yet only a relatively small number dominate formal education, government and academic publishing.

For African scholars and university lecturers, the issue presents both an opportunity and a challenge.

If indigenous languages are to become credible languages of science, they cannot remain limited to informal explanations.

They would require developed technical vocabularies, textbooks, dictionaries, research publications, teacher-training materials and digital learning resources capable of supporting learners from primary school to university.

Azeez’s work is already moving in that direction. In 2025, a Chemistry dictionary in Yoruba associated with the initiative was published, representing an attempt to build the vocabulary required to communicate Chemistry concepts in the language.

The initiative has also attracted support and questions from educators and academics online.

Some have described indigenous-language instruction as a way of making learning more accessible, while others have questioned whether language alone addresses the deeper problems affecting science education, including inadequate laboratories, poor infrastructure, teacher capacity, poverty, electricity challenges and students’ motivation.

Those questions are important.

Teaching Chemistry in Yoruba cannot, by itself, fix Nigeria’s science education system. A student who is taught Chemistry in Yoruba still needs a functional laboratory, qualified teachers, learning materials and an environment that encourages experimentation and critical thinking.

There is also the question of linguistic diversity. A Yoruba-medium Chemistry class may benefit Yoruba-speaking learners, but what happens to students whose first language is Igbo, Hausa, Efik, Ibibio, Tiv, Kanuri or one of Africa’s thousands of other languages?

That is why Azeez’s work should perhaps be viewed less as a proposal to replace English overnight and more as an educational experiment that challenges African scholars to think differently about language and knowledge.

There is also a practical reality. English remains deeply embedded in Nigeria’s higher education system and is essential for accessing a vast body of international scientific literature.

Nigerian students seeking to study, publish or collaborate internationally will still need proficiency in English and other global academic languages.

The goal, therefore, need not be to choose between indigenous and international languages.

Africa could instead explore a multilingual education model in which indigenous languages strengthen conceptual understanding while international languages provide access to wider academic and professional communities.

For university lecturers, this could mean developing supplementary teaching resources in local languages.

For researchers, it could mean documenting scientific terminology in indigenous languages. For governments, it could mean investing in translation, curriculum development and teacher training.

For technology developers, it could mean building educational platforms capable of explaining scientific concepts in African languages.

And for African universities, it raises an even bigger question: what would happen if African languages became languages not only of culture and conversation, but also of research, innovation and scientific discovery?

Azeez’s work offers one possible answer.

His academic journey took him from Ogun State and Lagos to institutions in Nigeria and eventually to Thailand.

Yet after gaining international academic exposure, he returned to an educational challenge much closer to home: how knowledge can be communicated to people in a language they already understand.

That may be the most significant lesson from Kemisiri Yoruba.

The future of African education may not depend solely on producing more graduates who can speak excellent English or French.

It may also depend on creating systems where African learners can encounter sophisticated knowledge without being forced to disconnect from the languages and cultural contexts that shape their understanding of the world.

If Chemistry can be explained in Yoruba, perhaps mathematics can be taught in Igbo, physics in Hausa, biology in Kiswahili and computer science in other African languages.

The larger challenge is not whether African languages are capable of carrying scientific knowledge.

It is whether African education systems are prepared to invest the scholarship, terminology, technology and institutional support required to make that possibility a reality.

For Azeez, the experiment has already begun. And for African educators, it may be worth asking where it could lead.