<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="" itemprop="itemReviewed" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Thing"><span itemprop="name">English no more the medium of instruction in Ghanaian schools? Crap!!</span></h1>
<p class="">
<span class="">in <a href="http://vibeghana.com/category/opinions/" rel="category tag">Opinions</a></span>
<span class="">October 16, 2015</span>
</p>
<p>By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor</p>
<p>Friday, October 16, 2015</p>
<p>Folks, I continue to wonder why public officials in positions of
trust continue to create credibility problems for themselves, the
appointing authorities, and the country, generally. No need to enumerate
the various instances; but there is need to focus on the latest one,
coming from Dr. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, Minister of Education:</p>
<p>“The Minister of Education has stated that Ghana would very soon
change the use of English as a medium of instruction in school. Prof.
Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang largely blamed the inability of the educated
working class to develop the nation to the language used in teaching
them in schools.</p>
<p>“The minister who was part of the “Shared Prosperity Forum” Friday
indicated that she was determined to push through the language policy at
the highest level so that school children can be thought in their
mother tongue”. (See:
<a href="http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2015/October-16th/ghana-to-change-english-as-medium-of-instruction.php">http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2015/October-16th/ghana-to-change-english-as-medium-of-instruction.php</a>).</p>
<p>MY REACTION</p>
<p>Just one word to encapsulate my revulsion: CRAP!! I hope what the
Minister said isn’t coming from the government. If it does, woebetide
it. Another opportunity being created to worsen its credibility
problems!! Now, let me explain my stance. Dr. Opoku-Agyemang has made a
name as a Professor of English (She and her husband taught me courses in
English at the University of Cape Coast). She is nothing without
English!!</p>
<p>Her proposition is without foundation. The British colonial
authorities established formal education in the country with English as
the medium of instruction and a subject of study. Since then, English
has consolidated itself and virtually “killed” Ghanaian languages in the
curriculum.</p>
<p>The Great Osagyefo’s establishment of the Ajumako School of Ghanaian
Languages was a bold attempt to give room to Ghanaian languages (at
least, those recognized as strong and used on Radio Ghana). Teachers of
those languages were produced by that school to staff the various
institutions in the country.</p>
<p>Come Jerry John Rawlings’ reforms in the system of education and the
Ajumako School of Ghanaian languages was abolished and turned into
something that is not worth talking about. So, no opportunity for
promoting the training of teachers of Ghanaian languages. I am not sure
that those languages are even taught in the schools. So, what is the
Minister talking about? Her proposition is a mere figment of
imagination. It is not based on anything concrete. Talking about a
“language policy” even worsens the case because there is nothing like
that to rely on.</p>
<p>Let me raise just one example from Nigeria to prove that implementing
a language policy in the education sector means a lot more than the
Minister will have us believe. This is an extract from a project on
language/culture/education/identity in West African schools that I am
working on:</p>
<p>“As Akere (1995) explains, for instance, the language provisions of
Nigeria’s National Policy on Education (NPE)—which was formulated in
1977 and revised in 1981—spelled out the language content of the school
curriculum at the primary and secondary levels. Accordingly, the NPE
stipulated that the mother tongue should be used as the language of
instruction in pre-primary education and that every primary school
child should be taught in his/her mother tongue of the language of
his/her immediate community for the first three years and thereafter in
English.</p>
<p>“Thus, English should be taught as a subject in the curriculum at the
primary school level. At the secondary school level, every Junior
Secondary School (JSS) pupil should learn one major Nigerian language
(that is, Hausa, Igbo, or Yoruba) in addition to his/her own mother
tongue. At the Senior Secondary School (SSS) level, only one major
Nigerian language (supposedly not the pupil’s mother tongue) should be
studied. English was to be studied as a subject and used as a medium of
instruction at all levels of secondary education. The truth, though, is
that English is taught at all levels, meaning that it still dominates
the curriculum content.” Why is it so? Your guess is as good as mine.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that mother-tongue influence is imperative in
education; but when there are no resources to support the use of
mother-tongues in schools, there is no need to go for them, especially
when English is already established as the medium of instruction and
provides opportunities for enlightenment.</p>
<p>In this computer age when our local languages aren’t even featured in
the orthographical repertoire (writing system), where will the teachers
ever get materials with which to instruct the kids? How much do the
teachers themselves know about those languages and how proficient are
they in them to be able to use them for instruction?</p>
<p>We know how some politicians have been doing all they can toward
imposing Twi on Ghana as its national official language. This is a
touchy issue to be wary of.</p>
<p>English is Ghana’s national official language. For whatever it is,
the language is privileged all over the world and serves purposes that
other languages cannot, at least, when it comes to cross-cultural
communication.</p>
<p>Those of us who have studied English to the highest level possible
know that the language is growing faster than any other in the world;
and it will continue to do so for as long as its affordances attract
users all over the world. Wherever English goes, it kills local
languages ( a crime called by the linguist Philipson as “linguicide”).
But it kills the local languages only to lend itself to nativization,
which is why we have different varieties of it all over the world.</p>
<p>Those of us using “Ghanaian English” know why our version is
different from the “Nigerian English” or the West African Pidgin English
or the Liberian/Sierra Leonean Creole (Kru English). But we largely
understand each other and do business as such.</p>
<p>English in Ghana is predominantly favoured and will continue to be
so. It doesn’t really prevent us from doing what will help us develop
our country. So, why consider it as a threat to be discarded in the
schools?</p>
<p>Dr. Opoku-Agyemang may have other reasons for mooting this idea, but I
want to tell her that the country doesn’t have the resources to support
her idea. For now, it is a mere whiff of irritation that she has blown.
Will it make any sense removing English as the medium of instruction
and retaining it as a subject of study? And which particular local
language anywhere in Ghana can be used as a medium of instruction? Where
are the resources for such local languages?</p>
<p>Take the metropolitan and municipal areas (Accra, Kumasi, Tema, etc.)
for instance. Which “local” language will be used to teach the kids in
schools? And who will teach in those local languages when the teachers
may not necessarily be conversant with them? Are they even trained in
those languages?</p>
<p>When the Great Osagyeo established the University of Cape Coast as a
teacher-producing institution, he ensured that Ghanaian languages were
heavily invested in. What has happened ever since the UCC lost its
traction as a teacher-training institution is deplorable. Yet, English
and French are privileged in its curriculum and as it is in the other
universities. So, if we don’t have qualified teachers for Ghanaian
languages, will it make any sense to dislodge English as such?</p>
<p>Our Ghanaian languages are worth sustaining but not being used as a
medium of instruction, especially when there are no resources. So, why
even contemplate replacing English with them? And who says that using
these local languages will prepare kids for nation-building?</p>
<p>Multicultural and multilingual as Ghanaians are, the need will
definitely arise for them to do more than what the Minister has against
English. Nation-building calls for a drastic change in habits of mind
and attitudes. If Ghanaians can do what others elsewhere do to place
country first, we should make progress. Changing the medium of
instruction won’t solve the problems that worry us.</p>
<p>Folks, I wish that the government and its functionaries will be
circumspect in making public utterances that carry more weight than we
can bear.</p>
<p>I shall return…</p>
<ul><li>E-mail: <a href="mailto:mjbokor@yahoo.com">mjbokor@yahoo.com</a></li><li>Join me on Facebook at: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor">http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor</a> to continue the conversation.</li></ul><p><a href="http://vibeghana.com/2015/10/16/english-no-more-the-medium-of-instruction-in-ghanaian-schools-crap/">http://vibeghana.com/2015/10/16/english-no-more-the-medium-of-instruction-in-ghanaian-schools-crap/</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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