The Anambra State Government has asked teachers in the state to reinvigorating the teaching of the Igbo Language in schools.

The state government warned that teachers fining or flogging pupils for speaking Igbo would be dealt with.

The state Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs, Culture & Tourism, Ms Sally Mbanefo, gave the warning at a workshop for the revival of Igbo in Awka on Friday.

She reminded the teachers of the law making it compulsory for pupils in the state to dress in traditional attire and speak Igbo in school every Wednesday.

Mbanefo said Governor Willie Obiano was out to save the Igbo language from extinction.

WuzupNigeria reports that lawmakers in Anambra had in 2011 passed a stipulating Igbo language and attire for Anambra State schools.

The bill, sponsored by Hon. Sylvester Okeke (Anaocha I), seeks to reverse the slide of Igbo into oblivion by encouraging students and civil servants under the Anambra State jurisdiction to learn, speak and write Igbo as fluently as they do English.

The Igbo language bill has a take-off date of September 2011. By this date, all public and private educational institutions in the state are expected by force of law to make Igbo a mandatory general studies course for all freshmen. Among other requirements, mastery of Igbo will be a precondition for promotion from junior to senior secondary school, while all institutions of higher learning will be bound to set up Igbo language departments.

The bill also seeks to impose a penalty of between N5, 000 and N100, 000 on JSS III students who fail the subject in the qualifying examination for admission into the senior school classes.