According to him, although the study of French as an international language in schools was important, the country must prioritize the teaching of languages such as Yuroba, Kiswahili and Wolof.

[contextly_sidebar id=”wJgSgmVWoLHUeI9KZB06OnXf4Nfx1uLn”]His comment comes on the back of a revelation by President Akufo-Addo that the government is working to make the study of French language compulsory from primary through to Senior High Schools.

According to him, Ghana, which is surrounded by three francophone countries, must not be seen to be lagging behind in communicating in the French language, adding that being proficient in the language will “empower our population with the capacity to survive in this ECOWAS environment.”

But according to Dr. Kambon, the study of other African languages would rather promote African unity and collective gains.

“If we can really start to understand that we are African people, then we can go beyond just looking at the Western languages of our colonial enemies and western languages of our villages to actually learning other African languages. And when we do that, we will be building African collectiveness,” he said in an interview on Eyewitness News.

He added that, Africa’s challenges can best be addressed by building its own systems that include its culture and languages.

“Now you have basically British people with black skin and French people with black skin; so I think we have to remedy this major issue because what we’ve seen is that, lack of knowledge of who we are as African people has got us into the situation that we are in right now; and if we don’t like the situation, let us try knowledge instead of ignorance of ourselves as African people.”

Meanwhile, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), has welcomed the decision by the government.  The General Secretary Ofori Acheampong in an interview on the subject, said the idea is long overdue.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Prioritize teaching of African languages; not French – Lecturer appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the government intends to make significant progress by making the language compulsory from next academic year in September.

[contextly_sidebar id=”RY74iIoaKRyXe9M704IK5O68CnFP0xDc”]Akufo-Addo made the remarks in Togo on a two-day official visit to that country.

The compulsory study of French language in Ghana is currently limited to some basic public schools.  The language is also an examinable subject at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

In spite of this, most Ghanaians are not proficient in the language, a situation Nana Akufo-Addo says is unacceptable.

According to him, Ghana, which is surrounded by three francophone countries must not be seen to be lagging behind in communicating in the French language.

“[I’m] strongly for making French a compulsory language in our schools right up to the end of Senior High School. I’m fortified in taking this decision because as far back as 10 years ago when I left Ghana into la Francophone, I did so in Bucharest. The decision was that the Francophone organization will help us with the teachers of French in the schools because at the end of the day, everything you did in the education always comes back to the teachers,” he said.

“Mathew Opoku Prempeh, the minister for education, has it as a major priority on his agenda so I think that between now and hopefully the next academic year, some positive development is going to come out of it because to me it is absolutely essential that we do so, so that we empower our population with the capacity to survive in this ECOWAS environment. People speak English, but we don’t speak French. It is not good; and I think that we have to go about it that way,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), has welcomed the decision by the government.  The General Secretary Ofori Acheampong in an interview on the subject, said the idea is long overdue.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Study of French to be compulsory in SHS – Akufo-Addo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.