Africa-Press – Gambia. Advocates of the N’Ko alphabet in The Gambia have called on Africans to promote writing in their own languages to preserve knowledge and cultural identity.
They made the appeal on Saturday during a gathering in Brikama, organized to mark decades of literary development linked to the African script.
N’Ko is a 27-letter alphabet created 77 years ago by Guinean scholar Souleymane Kanté. He is credited with authoring nearly 200 books covering literature, Islam, science and other fields.
According to organizers, the past few years have seen significant progress in N’Ko education in The Gambia, including the establishment of at least 10 schools across the country’s eight regions.
“The minds of Africans have become a graveyard for ideas because of the lack of an alphabet to write our languages,” said Yahya Suware, Vice President of Faasuka nu Yiriwa Kaafo, an association promoting N’Ko development in The Gambia.
He added that other societies developed writing systems that enabled the recording and refinement of knowledge over generations. “Mr. Kanté developed N’Ko to respond to this need,” he said.
The alphabet is currently taught in several African countries, including Egypt, Mali, Guinea, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. It has been used to translate religious texts such as the Qur’an and Hadith collections, as well as works in literature, philosophy and science.
The event brought together dozens of N’Ko students from across The Gambia, who showcased educational projects, including models of a refrigerator, air conditioner, electric kettle and fertilizer. The students also performed poetry and songs in N’Ko.
It was attended by prominent cultural figures, including griot musician Jaliba Kuyateh, as well as teachers and N’Ko advocates from various regions.
The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education was represented by Alpha Khan from the Curriculum Directorate.
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