Alagumgube opposes introduction of Chinese and Arabic in Ghanaian schools

The founder of Alagumgube, Mr. Gabriel Agambila, and education advocate Prof. Avea Nosh have called on the Ministry of Education to prioritise the effective implementation of Ghanaian languages in schools instead of introducing additional foreign languages into the country's basic education curriculum.

Addressing the media, the two said Ghana's indigenous languages deserved greater investment, particularly in teacher recruitment, training and the provision of teaching and learning materials.

They argued that while foreign languages such as Chinese and Arabic may offer global opportunities, the country's immediate educational priority should be to strengthen the teaching of Ghanaian languages, including Gurene, which they said had not been fully implemented despite being approved for use in schools.

Mr. Agambila said there were enough trained Gurene teachers to begin the full implementation of the language in schools. According to him, many qualified Gurene teachers remain unemployed or have been assigned to teach other subjects because the language has not been fully rolled out across the education system.

"We have enough teachers who can kick-start the implementation. Many of them are either unemployed or teaching other subjects because Gurene has not been fully approved and implemented. If we introduce Chinese, we will end up creating employment opportunities for Chinese language teachers instead of utilising our own trained professionals," he said.

He added that making Ghanaian languages fully functional in the education system would contribute to preserving the country's cultural heritage while improving literacy and learning outcomes among children.

Prof. Nosh urged the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to ensure that Ghanaian languages became fully examinable at all levels of education.

He further called for sustained investment in the training, recruitment and deployment of Ghanaian language teachers to schools across the country.

"The implementation of Ghanaian language education must go beyond policy. It requires adequate teachers, learning materials and effective assessment if the objectives are to be achieved," he stated.

The two also appealed to policymakers to accelerate the implementation of existing policies on mother-tongue instruction before expanding the curriculum to include more foreign language options.

Their comments come amid ongoing public discussions on the place of foreign languages in Ghana's education system. The Ministry of Education has clarified that Chinese, Arabic and French remain optional subjects under the revised curriculum and will only be offered in schools where qualified teachers and the necessary resources are available.

Mr. Agambila and Prof. Nosh maintained that strengthening indigenous languages, particularly Gurene, would enhance national identity, promote inclusive education and ensure that learners acquire strong literacy skills in their mother tongue before pursuing additional languages.