Yes, Ghanaian children must be taught in their mother language –Varsity Don

A senior lecturer at University of Cape Coast, Dr. Joyce Tawiah-Mensah, has expressed worry about the growing trend whereby Ghanaian children, especially those in Accra, speak no language other than English, even at home.

“In Ghana, more children, especially in Accra, more children are speaking English at home. But are they Ghanaian children? Can we help them to, at least, learn one local language where they can also set up and say, I am a Ghanaian?

She made this statement on Accra-based Citi FM in reaction to a directive by the Minister for Education, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, asking the Ghana Education Service (GES) to use local language at the lower primary level.
Dr. Joyce Tawiah-Mensah asked parents and guardians to help their children learn one language in their locality or in their country and give them their international language as well.

“One thing we sometimes don’t pay attention to is that these children living in Accra, that you think cannot speak any of the local languages of Accra, please, you need them.”
The UCC varsity don, therefore, asked parents and guardians to let their wards play with their friends.

“Let them play with their friends while you are not there and see if they cannot speak any. Though they are in residential areas, they speak only English. But because they hear the language around, they have to do one or two things.
“So, when they do it for them, you will see that they will get their things very fast. So,

Accra can use it, provided we train teachers as to how to use this law in their class. They are using monolingual; they are using what we call trans-language.”
She expressed optimism that the call by the Minister to use mother tongue in teaching Ghanaian kids is something worth pursuing.
“So, please, it is something that we can choose, but we need commitment. We need political commitment in terms of inter-training, in terms of materials and everything.”

 

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