Ghana risks losing its indigenous languages in the nearest future as most basic schools across the country continue to defy the use of the local language as the primary means of instruction.
The local language policy reignited by the Ghana Education Service (GES) in 2015 stipulates that pupils from kindergarten to primary three be taught mainly with the local languages to improve literacy and language acquisition.
However, checks by the Ghanaian Times prior to the commemoration of this year’s International Mother Language day (IMLD) revealed that most basic schools in the capital, both private and public, have flouted the directive.
While the paper observed that teachers in some public schools visited tried to once in a while explain some expressions in the local language to pupils, the situation was worse off in the private schools where the use of ‘vernacular’ is virtually banned but for periods allotted for Ghanaian languages.
“We are not allowed to use the mother tongue to teach the children here though in my view I think using that, would have been the most appropriate because I know we teach from the known to the unknown,” a kindergarten one teacher with one of the private schools visited said.
The phenomenon she observed was worst off as some parents clearly abhor teachers attempting to communicate with pupils in the local language.
Nana Atakora, a Twi language teacher feared the trend could spell doom for the country as the next generation may lose their Ghanaian identity and culture if the penchant for the ‘everything foreign’ was not checked.
He again pointed out the stigma against local language teachers saying, “some times our own colleagues even think they are better off and much learned than those of us teaching the local subjects. When it is time for our subjects, they feel reluctant to give us the space to teach and it is so unfortunate.”
A head teacher of one public school who spoke on condition of anonymity confessed “we used to follow the guideline under the National Literacy Accelerated Programme (NALAP) programme but for some time now it has not really been effective so the teachers use both languages interchangeably though we admit the English is used more than the L1.”
Public Relations Officer of the GES, Cassandra Twum-Ampofo in explaining why the policy was lagging cited among others issues of inadequate human resource, teacher postings and transfers, and lack of finding a common language to use as L1 in a locality.
“We could not really enforce the guideline due to some of these factors but we are currently reviewing the curriculum to find a holistic approach to this problem. We may forgo the use of the L1 and settle on the use the common language, English, in teaching or find other means of implementing it after the review,” she hinted.
However, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Ghana Languages (BGL), Mrs Benedicta Esi Anibri was disgusted Ghana since independence had failed to effectively implement the local language policy chiding successive governments for doing little to save the Ghanaian languages.
“We are heading towards destruction, our language is our identity and we are throwing ourselves back to colonialism if we throw it away for other foreign languages.
To her, the GES had “no excuse not to make the Ghanaian languages a core subject just as English, Maths, French and other subjects are compulsory right from class one through till the tertiary level.”
“If they really have the Ghanaian languages at heart they can enforce it and conscientise the parents to see it as a priority. For instance, people in this country who want to do further studies in other countries like China, Denmark are made to study the local language for about a year and pass it before they tackle their course and its working and developing those countries so why can’t we do same here,” she wondered.
A language expert, Mr Enoch Adinortey Adibuer in an interview, believed “GES is unable to implement the L1 because of politics. When it comes to education and health, we must take the politics out of it if we want to go somewhere.”
“Politicians during elections go to their constituencies and speak their local languages to get votes, come back to parliament and speak English when making laws so how do you expect the people you represent to understand?
Let us take politics out of the education sector and make it compulsory for students to learn the local languages, the chiefs must also help and insist that the languages spoken in their jurisdiction are taught in the schools and we must also increase education on the importance of speaking and developing our languages,” Mr Adibuer urged.
The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has set aside February 21 as IMLD to promote linguistic diversity and multilingual education.
This year’s celebration is on the theme, “Indigenous languages a matter for development, peace building and reconciliation.”
In Ghana, available studies shows that out of about 85 languages discovered by the colonialists, a huge percentage was currently endangered with the country managing to save just about 11 for teaching and learning activities
The BGL is thus spearheading activities including a mini language festival dubbed “Sanegbaa” to wit conversations in English, to spark a national drive towards saving the Ghanaian languages as part of activities to commemorate the day.
By Abigail Annoh
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