The New Mother Tongue Policy: Revisiting an Old Idea with New Challenges

Understanding the Historical Context
The policy of using the mother tongue in the delivery of instruction is not a new thing in Ghana's educational landscape. The National Literacy Acceleration Programme (NALAP), which was fully implemented in the 2009/2010 academic year, emphasised the use of local languages alongside the English Language to enhance reading ability amongst learners. The programme recognized the importance of incorporating indigenous languages into the teaching and learning process, creating a bilingual approach that sought to bridge the gap between home language and school language. What the minister is championing now is not entirely a new thing, but rather a reconfiguration of an existing framework that has been part of our educational discourse for over a decade.

What's New in the Current Proposal?

According to the minister, the use of mother-tongue instruction is now compulsory in all Ghanaian schools. This represents a significant departure from previous policies. This is quite different from the NALAP, which advocated for the use of Ghanaian languages alongside the English Language in a complementary manner. The current proposal appears to make mother-tongue instruction mandatory rather than supplementary, shifting from a bilingual approach to what seems to be a mother-tongue-first or mother-tongue-dominant model. This fundamental change in approach raises important questions about implementation, particularly in Ghana's increasingly cosmopolitan urban centers.

The Urban Implementation Challenge
I'm wondering how this is going to work in urban areas like Accra, Kumasi, Tamale, Ho, and other major cities across the country. These areas are filled with children from diverse linguistic and ethnic backgrounds, creating classrooms that are essentially microcosms of Ghana's rich cultural diversity. In a typical urban classroom, you might find Gas, Ewes, Akans, Dagombas, and children from numerous other ethnic groups learning side by side. Yes, he calls for the use of the dominant Ghanaian language in each locality, but in urban areas like Accra, where some specific areas are Twi-dominated due to migration patterns and settlement history, does it mean that Twi will become the mode of instruction in those schools?

Does it mean that the indigenes—the Gas, for instance, in their own ancestral land—would have to move to areas like Teshie, James Town, La, or other predominantly Ga-speaking communities before they can receive instructions in their mother tongue? What happens to the child whose parents have settled in a neighborhood where their ethnic group is in the minority? Will such children be forced to learn in a language that, while Ghanaian, is still foreign to them? These are not merely theoretical questions but practical concerns that will affect thousands of families if this policy is implemented as currently proposed.

Additional Concerns Worth Considering
Beyond the question of linguistic diversity in urban areas, there are other implementation challenges that deserve attention. What about the availability of qualified teachers who can teach in the various mother tongues? Do we have sufficient teaching and learning materials in all the languages that would be used? How will this policy affect children's proficiency in English, which remains the language of international communication and higher education? Will this create disparities between urban and rural students, or between students from different linguistic backgrounds, in terms of their preparedness for secondary and tertiary education?

A Call for Further Consultation
I feel the minister should look at this again with a more nuanced approach that takes into account the complex realities on the ground. While the intention to promote literacy through mother-tongue instruction is commendable and supported by educational research, the implementation strategy needs to be more carefully thought through. Perhaps a more flexible approach that allows schools to adapt the policy to their specific demographic realities would be more practical. There should be extensive consultation with educators, parents, linguists, and community leaders to develop a policy that honors our linguistic heritage while remaining practical and inclusive.

The goal of improving literacy and learning outcomes is one we all share, but the path to achieving it must be carefully mapped out to ensure that no child is left behind due to the unintended consequences of a well-meaning policy.

The author, Alpha Osei Amoako, is a social commentator and an educationist with a special interest in educational leadership.

Email: kwamealpha@gmail.com

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