Mahama must sack Education Minister if he acted without his directive on Arabic and Chinese teaching policy – NPP

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is demanding an apology from President John Dramani Mahama or the dismissal of Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu over the controversy surrounding the proposed teaching of Arabic and Chinese in Ghanaian schools.

In a statement issued by its Education Sector Policy Committee on Wednesday, September 16, the party said the President’s recent denial that Cabinet had approved any such policy had created a contradiction within his government.

President Mahama, during his Resetting Ghana tour of the Upper West Region on September 12, said no policy had been approved to introduce Arabic and Chinese across public schools.

The NPP, however, said the Education Minister had, on April 24, publicly announced that Chinese and Arabic would become compulsory foreign languages at the secondary school level and had linked the policy to President Mahama’s vision for education.

It further claimed that the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) was subsequently instructed by the Education Ministry to undertake related curriculum work, involving about 160 writers and reviewers.

According to the NPP, a revised curriculum was presented to the Education Minister on July 22, after which he referred it to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to bring it to “full implementation readiness”.

The party also cited teacher training undertaken on September 3 by NaCCA, with support from the Confucius Institute at the University of Cape Coast, as evidence that preparations had progressed beyond a mere proposal.

It said if the Minister had acted without presidential or Cabinet approval, President Mahama should remove him from office.

“If the Minister announced and pursued this policy without presidential and Cabinet approval, the President must sack him. If, however, the Minister acted with the authority or knowledge of the President or Cabinet, then the President must apologise to the Ghanaian people for denying a policy his Government had already set in motion,” the statement read in part.

The NPP said this clarification did not resolve the earlier statement attributed to the Education Minister regarding compulsory foreign languages at the secondary-school level.

It also questioned the use of public funds for curriculum development, implementation preparation and teacher training if, as the President stated, there was “absolutely no new policy”.

“What exactly were taxpayers funding, and who takes responsibility for that expenditure?” the party asked.

The NPP said Arabic and Chinese should not be treated as identical cases, arguing that Arabic already existed as an optional subject in some English-Arabic schools, while the process involving Chinese represented a more recent curriculum development.

It said the controversy raises broader concerns about coordination within the government and the authority under which ministers undertake major policy initiatives.