Ghana to
change English as medium of instruction
The Minister of Education has stated that
Ghana would very soon change the use of English as a medium of instruction in
school. Prof.
Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang largely blamed the inability of the educated working
class to develop the nation to the language used in teaching them in schools.
The
minister who was part of the “Shared Prosperity Forum” Friday indicated that
she was determined to push through the language policy at the highest level so
that school children can be thought in their mother tongue.
The
forum held at the University of Ghana assembled several high-level opinion
leaders from the public and private sectors to reflect on two ambitious goals-
end extreme poverty by 2030, and to effectively promote income growth among
people in the bottom 40 percent of the population in every country of the
world.
The
panelists were Dr. Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank Group; Dr. Akinwumi
Adesina,President, African Development Bank; Mr. Tony Elumelu, African
Entrepreneur and a Philanthropist; and Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman,Minister of
Education, Ghana. It was moderated by Lerato Mbele of the BBC.
Prof.
Opoku Agyemang was optimistic that once “we can remove [English as the medium
of instruction], we will change this country.”
The call
to change the use of English language as a medium of instruction in school at
all levels has been raging for years but there has always been a lack of
political will to walk the talk.
The
minister’s stance drew thunderous cheers from the gathering which included
students and lecturers and members from the general public.
Countries
such as Korea which used to be at par with Ghana are now way ahead in terms of
development because they taught their school children using their native
language, she recounted.
“Because
the Koreans were taught in a language they understood, education picked up; because
we are teaching our children a language they can’t event follow, we are drawing
them back.
“The
real change for me is not about reviewing the curriculum, it is not about
extension of construction it is about relevant,” the Education Minister
intimated.
She
noted that Ghanaian children a bright but most of them are trapped in the basic
school without being able to advance because they were “taught wrongly in a
medium they couldn’t relate to”.
What
would appear as a daunting task for the minister is settling on one out of the
numerous languages spoken in the country. Ghana has over 46 dialects but
English is the official language of Ghana and is universally used in schools in
addition to nine other local languages. The most widely spoken local languages are:
Ga, Dagomba, Akan and Ewe.
The
Minister however did not mention or suggest any language she would want used as
the medium of instruction in schools.
According
to the World Bank, several African countries have seen significant successes in
reducing extreme poverty, including Ghana, which reduced extreme poverty to
25.2 percent in 2005/06 from 47.3 percent in 1991/92 (under the $1.90 poverty
line). But the region as a whole lags behind the rest of the world in
progressing toward the goal.
Sub-Saharan
poverty fell from an estimated 56 percent in 1990 to a projected 35 percent in
2015, according to the latest World Bank estimates, which are based on an extreme
poverty line of $1.90 a day. Rapid population growth remains a key factor
blunting progress in many countries.
After
the hour-long lively debate, Lerato Mbele asked each panel member to suggest
what Africa must do to end poverty.
Dr.
Akinwumi Adesina was emphatic in his conviction, “Africa has no business with
poverty so simply end it; there is no other thing more than that”
For the
astute entrepreneur, Mr. Tony Elumelu, “We must create employment and we must
embrace local value added industrialization.”
Dr. Jim
Yong Kim wants Africans to “Listen to the young people; listen to the women.”
After
years of working in the field of humanity, the former Vice Chancellor of the
University of Cape Coast, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman, stressed, “In order
for Africa to end poverty, it must focus on quality, relevant education
delivered in the right medium.”
Source:
Ghana
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