Teaching Arabic Language is not teaching Islamic Religion

Every time the conversation about introducing Arabic in basic schools comes up, the same fear-mongering starts. Some people shout, "They want to Islamize Ghana!" It is time to expose that ignorance for what it is: ignorance.

Teaching Arabic in basic schools does not mean teaching Islam. Teaching Arabic means teaching a language, just as teaching French does not mean teaching Christianity, and teaching Chinese does not mean teaching Buddhism.

Arabic is a global language spoken by over 400 million people in more than 20 countries. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. It is the language of commerce across North Africa and the Middle East regions where Ghanaian traders, labourers, nurses, engineers and businessmen are increasingly going to work. Therefore, to deny Ghanaian children access to that language is to deny them a competitive advantage in the global economy.

We already teach French in our basic schools, and Ghana is not a Francophone country. Why? Because we understand that language is power. French gives our children access to our neighbours Togo, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast. By the same logic, Arabic gives our children access to a whole economic bloc.

And let us be honest about history, Arabic has been in Ghana for centuries, long before the colonialists brought English. Our ancestors in the north were writing and trading in Arabic. The ancient manuscripts of Timbuktu, the historic trade routes of Salaga and Begho were all facilitated by Arabic literacy. It is part of our African heritage, not something foreign.

There is also a practical reality: thousands of Ghanaian children already attend Arabic schools, known as Madrassa and Makaranta, every afternoon after public school. They learn it anyway, therefore, integrating it into the basic school system would only standardize it, regulate it, and ensure quality control, just as we do for any other subject.

The confusion comes because Arabic is the language of the Quran, just as Hebrew and Latin are languages of the Bible. But we must separate language from religion. When a Christian child in Achimota learns Arabic, he is not being converted to Islam. He is learning how to say "Good morning," "How are you?" and "My name is..." in another tongue. The curriculum for language teaching is about grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension, not about religious indoctrination.

If we allow fear to block education, we will remain behind. No parent complains that teaching English means teaching Anglicanism. No one says teaching French means forcing our children to become Catholic like the French.

Let us not politicize language. Ghana is a secular state that respects all religions, it is not a Christian country, neither is it an Islamic country. Teaching Arabic is about giving our children more tools to survive in the modern world. It is about jobs, trade, diplomacy, and cultural literacy.

Teaching Arabic does not mean teaching Islam, it means teaching our children to be global citizens.