Lecturer Asked Voltarians To Promote Literacy In Ewe Language

Mr Pascal Kpodo, a Lecturer at the Department of Ewe Education at the University of Education, Winneba has called on Ewes to promote the language in the country.

He said this was because higher education in Ewe, which had deep roots in three African countries, guaranteed job opportunities, particularly in the fields of linguistics.

Mr Kpodo who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview said most Voltarians could not read and write in the native language, a development which he alleged, was affecting the standard of education in the Volta Region.

He said though the country was implementing a language policy, more had to be done in equipping teachers with local language competency for desired results.

Mr Kpodo said barring students for expressing themselves in local dialects was not in the right direction because 'it is not right for us to downgrade the language of our identity. Allowing it to die is to allow our heritage and culture to die'.

He therefore called for rigorous promotion of the language through the media and other avenues to prevent it from dying out, and said the College was offering Bachelor Degrees and other certificates in the Ewe Language education.

Mr Kpodo said final year thesis and other academic works at the Department were being produced in Ewe; whiles there was an on-going project to translate text books into Ewe language.

GNA
By Samuel Akumatey, GNA