Ghana Benefits From €520,000 Support For Teaching And Learning Of French Language

Ghana on September 4th, 2020 organised a ceremony of distribution of educational material by the Embassy of France to Ghana, at the Ministry of Education, for the six Colleges of Education that teach French and 41 new schools, out of the 50 in total, which offer the bilingual classes system.

That action takes place within the Project to support the strengthening of the French language in public education in Ghana (PARFEP project), funded by the Solidarity Fund for Innovative Projects from the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, with a budget of 520,000€ implemented in 2019-2020.

This event was the occasion to hand over 58 computers with their headset, equipped with a language learning software to create language laboratories in each of the 6 CoE, and 41 projectors and computers for the bilingual classes system.

The ceremony gathered the Minister of Education, Hon. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Her Excellency the Ambassador of France to Ghana, Anne Sophie AVÉ, and representatives of the six CoE that teach French (Mount Mary College of Education, Wesley College of Education, Enchi College of Education, BagaBaga College of Education, Gwebaa College of Education, E.P. Amedzofe College of Education). Continuous actions despite COVID-19The continuity of the common actions have been ensured despite the current crisis.

Indeed, since March, activities continued mostly with the support of France Education Internationale (FEI) for the training of the teachers of Colleges of Education and the creation of French textbooks for the primary and JHS level, making Ghana the first country ever to benefit from remote trainings from FEI.

Together, Ghana and France, through the current project, have three aims:

- To consolidate French language in Ghana’s public education system, while modernizing its teaching and assessment method;

- To build French teachers’ capacities and equip institutions dedicated to initial training (Colleges of Education - CoE) or continuous training (CREF, Centres régionaux d’enseignement du français)

- To support innovative initiatives such (distance learning, development of smartphone applications, Ghanaian bilingual system).

A historical partnership The Embassy of France and the Ministry of Education in Ghana are historical partners when it comes to the status of the French language and Francophonie in the country.

France is committed to supporting education in Ghana through multilateral channels such as the Global Partnership for Education to which France is the 4th contributor, UN agencies and bilateral projects.

Ghana and France have been working together in the framework of several projects related to the teaching and learning of the French language in Ghana. Since 2019, they have collaborated on the PARFEP project.