Arabic curriculum not meant to impose language on students — Education Ministry

The Ministry of Education has denied reports suggesting that it intends to make Arabic a compulsory subject for Ghanaian students.

The Ministry said Arabic remains an optional language in public schools and that there is no policy or directive to impose its teaching on students.

It explained that the development of a standardised Arabic curriculum was initiated years before the appointment of Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu and is intended to regulate the teaching of the language in schools where it is already offered.

“The Ministry wishes to state categorically that there is no policy or directive to impose the study of Arabic on Ghanaian students,” the Ministry said in a statement issued on Tuesday, August 11.

The clarification follows what the ministry described as misinformation and public concerns suggesting that the Education Minister was seeking to introduce Arabic as a compulsory subject in Ghanaian schools.

However, the ministry said the process to develop a standardised curriculum for Arabic began with a review of the curriculum at the senior high school level about four years ago.

The Ministry further explained that Arabic has been taught in English-Arabic and Islamic schools across the country for decades, although there has previously been no officially approved standardised curriculum for all such schools.

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) subsequently developed a standardised Arabic language curriculum as part of its mandate to regulate teaching and learning.

The Ministry said NaCCA's recommendation for the adoption of the curriculum was intended for Islamic and English-Arabic schools, as well as any other public primary school that may choose to implement it.

“The development of a standardised curriculum does not amount to making Arabic compulsory for non-Muslim students, nor does it constitute an attempt to impose any religion on Ghanaian learners,” it said.

The Ministry stressed that Arabic, like French and other foreign languages apart from English, remains an optional subject in public schools.