The Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah,during an interaction with the Muslim Community at Nsawam Zongo, as part of his campaign tour of the Eastern Region said “President Mahama has agreed that, from 2017, Senior High School students will study Arabic like they do in the English language.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”CT40XcumwiilzBGjDbMhnMyQegfvOCfj”]But speaking on Eyewitness News, Spokesperson for the Flagbearer of the NPP, Mustapha Hamid who lauded the initiative, however wondered how the NDC would implement this policy since it was not their original idea but that of the NPP’s.

“It is the usual panic reaction of copying everything the NPP says or puts in its manifesto and because it is not their original idea, they do not know the dynamics that are involved, they have not thought about it , they speak about it in ways that are unfathomable. We have it in our manifesto so it is very clear that it was after our manifesto came that they thought about it”

Mr. Hamid also raised doubts about the possibility of the programme fully taking force in 2017, saying “ from next year, they are going to begin the teaching of Arabic in JHS and SHS but I don’t know how they are going to do that next year because you need to do the training of teachers, you need to do the recruitment of teachers and since it is not their idea, I do not know how they are going to do that. “

Some stakeholders in the educational sector have since the announcement raised questions as to why government is taking such a move when there are other languages such as Chinese and French that they can make examinable in schools.

But Mr. Hamid defended the decision, saying “there are more speakers of Arabic in Ghana than there are speakers of French”

“If French is examinable I don’t see why Arabic should not be examinable. Arabic is also the language of Islam and because it is the language of Islam, thousands of Muslim children study Arabic willy nilly. It also a subject at the University of Ghana and those who study the language are required to study the subject so if it is an optional subject it helps .”

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post NDC copied our Arabic language idea – NPP appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This was announced by the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, when he interacted with the Muslim Community at Nsawam Zongo, as part of his campaign tour of the Eastern Region.

“President Mahama has agreed that, from 2017, Senior High School students will study Arabic like they do in the English language and we will introduce it at the basic level in 2018 and make it examinable.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”4e2VlyCilJ9iPL13je1d8Ihfp80Zcx3M”]Julius Debrah added that, the Wenchi Teacher Training College has started a programme to train some teachers in the country for that purpose.

“The good news is that, for the first time, we have a Teacher Training College at Wenchi that will train our Arabic teachers to be posted to other schools after completion.”

He also announced several policies to be introduced by President Mahama if given another term in office to enrich the lives of Ghanaians.

“This is not all, under the Islamic education unit, we will have Islamic Junior High Schools and Islamic Junior Technical institutions so that graduates from these schools can be employed in other Arabic countries with the certificates they would acquire. Who will you trust to deliver? Is it the one who is offering you fish, or the one showing you how to fish?”

The Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, also reiterated calls for the Muslim community in particular, to vote massively for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its candidates.

Gov’t to strictly enforce teaching in local languages

The announcement comes on the back of moves by the Education Ministry to begin the strict enforcement of the use of local languages as the sole medium of instruction in basic schools in Ghana.

The Education Minister, Professor Naana Opoku Agyeman in June 2016 , indicated that, only pupils from kindergarten one to primary three, will be taught mainly with the local languages.

98% of class 2 pupils can’t read English

A research conducted in Ghana in 2014, revealed that 98 percent of primary two pupils in basic schools can neither read nor understand English or any Ghanaian language properly.

This was contained in the “Early Grade Reading Assessment” report commissioned by the Ghana Education Service (GES) for primary two pupils.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post NDC to make Arabic examinable subject in schools appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.