Compulsory French For Upper Primary — Prof Yankah

Minister of State, Prof Kwesi Yankah says under the new educational reforms, the study of French Language is to be introduced in upper primary, the GNA reports.

Prof. Yankah, according to the News Agency, “said recognising Ghana’s missed opportunities in the past,” the government decided that French will soon be compulsory at upper primary and junior high school (JHS).

File Photo: Prof Yankah is Minister of State in charge of tertiary education

“Just about seven percent of schools offered French at the JHS level,” he said.

He added that the schools that score the highest marks are in areas closer to Ghana’s borders, which are neighbours to Francophone countries.

Prof Yankah said at the senior high school (SHS) level, about 68 percent of schools offered French, and for those schools where French was taught, qualified teachers teaching also taught other subjects.

The Minister, who is responsible for tertiary education said with these trends, it is not surprising that the enrolment of students in French Departments within public universities in Ghana is rather low, and much worse in private universities, where lecturers are largely redundant.

Prof Yankah made these remarks in his address during the fifth France Ghana Higher Education and Research Conference in Accra.

The event was organised by the French Embassy in Ghana, in collaboration with Institut Francais Ghana and Campus France Ghana.

It is aimed at developing existing and new collaborations between the French and Ghanaian research centres; develop the joint degree and joint supervision at PhD level; and as well enhance students and researcher’s mobility.