Education at its basic is the acquisition of knowledge, socialization and moral development—and it doesn’t matter the language in which teaching is done, these important elements would be achieved.
Therefore, the call for Ghana to cut off the usage of English as a medium of instruction in our schools is interesting with a recent comment from Ghana’s Minister of Education-Prof. Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang giving prominence to the discussion.
In places like China, South Korea, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and others, teaching is done in languages they perfectly understand—while they strive to learn English as a subject. In Ghana, teaching is done in English, while the student learns the same English.
The problem is obvious; how do you understand something being taught in English when you do not even properly understand the English, the medium of instruction? And this is one of the fundamental problems of our educational system.
I have studied alongside students from China, Russia and South Korea and even though their English were below mine, they managed with the help of translations to score excellent marks each time there was an assignment. They would mostly translate what is being taught to their own language which they understand better and then re-translate back.
If you are being taught a subject like Social Studies in English, you don’t only struggle with understanding the principles you are being taught—but also, you fumble with the English being used. Instead of dealing with one problem of learning an idea or concept, you end up with two: learning a new idea in a language you don’t really get.
Against this background, I share in the opinion of Ghana’s Minister of Education that it’s time we restructure our educational system—starting with the language, the medium of instruction.
According to MyJoyOnline, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang “who was part of the “Shared Prosperity Forum” held in Accra on Friday stated that we should “largely blamed the inability of the educated working class to develop the nation to the language used in teaching them in schools.”
She added: “we can remove [English as the medium of instruction], we will change this country.”
The website reports that “The minister’s stance drew thunderous cheers from the gathering which included students and lecturers and members from the general public.”
In her submission, she noted how countries like South Korea started with Ghana on the educational race but are far ahead of us because teaching is done in their own language.
She said: “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.”
Of course the problem of which of Ghana’s 46 languages would become the medium of instruction hovers—but with only a few, Twi, Ewe, Ga and the others being widely spoken and written, this should be any solve for us.
Finally, they’re seeing the light! It’s embarrassing knowing that some Ghanaians cannot read or write in their own languages. Although I’m one of those people, I’m actually trying to better myself by learning it.
Another boneheaded idea and shortcut for a nation devoid of ideas and vision. after they’ve used fante, twi or ewe to teach the kids, who is going to employ them? Ghana is net importer of the goods. Meaning we don’t have the industries to employ these people. The real solution is to improve the economy so industries can locate there and employ them. You don’t lower the bar because you are failing the kids by not providing the right materials to educate them and pocketing the millions of aid money given to assist them. I know of immigrant families who come here at the later stages of their lives without knowing English and in two years learn to speak it. My Portuguese friend learned English by watching kids programs on television with her kids. Even I learned French by watching French programs on the Canadian television. Teaching the kids to master English is doable. But that is not intent of the ministries. Dividing the grants and chopping them is their goal.
In the age where technology is available to educate these kids, the government who has been an impediment to the proper introduction of these technologies to help the kids because of their 10%, has decided to curse the kids further by eliminating their only link to the world. I wonder after teaching them twi, fante and the rest of the local languages who is going read the instructions on how to assemble or take apart that foreign produced goods. Had the government not pocketed most of the aid given to improve education, these kids will be doing well. What does it cost to introduce audio books, educational programs and videos to classrooms? A whole lot less that the fleet of SUVs the government is going to by for the corrupt and filthy ministers and their ministries.
Talk about a f**ked up priority. Had Naana Opoku Agyeman been educated in Dagati, twi or ewe, how would she have fared at the Canadian universities she came to collect her masters and phds. This is nonsense and a condemnation of new generation of Ghanaians to more misery and hopelessness.
Just teach English it’s useless to teach in languages that can be taught at home. We don’t even have ONE national language like France has French or Koreans speak Korean, it’s just not going to work. Just stick to the system we have and improve it, no point going back on ourselves and starting from scratch.