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Can the educational policy on Ghanaian languages become a reality?
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<span>Enoch A. Adibuer</span>
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<time datetime="2016-12-23T10:02:54+00:00">
23 December 2016
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<p class="gmail-img-caption">The use of mother tongue with children
prepares them for the smooth acquisition of literacy in second language
at a later stage in their schooling</p>
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<blockquote class="gmail-article-intro">
<p>Language is “a body of words and the systems for their use which
is common to a people who may be of the same community, nation,
geographical area, culture or tradition”.</p>
</blockquote>
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<p>Since God speaks and will want His children to hear, understand and
act accordingly, He gave humankind ‘language’ as the tool for
communication. This also makes it possible for man to communicate with
his fellow humankind conveniently.</p>
<p>At Babel, it ceased to be a language, but languages (Genesis 11:9).
It was here that the first tower was built. This tells you that the
proper use of language can aid development.</p>
<p>The late South African President Nelson Mandela said: “If you talk to
someone in the language he understands, it goes into his head but if
you talk to him in the language he speaks, it goes to his heart”.</p>
<p>“Local languages constitute the majority of languages spoken across
our world in the field of science. They are also the most endangered.
Excluding languages means excluding those who speak them from their
fundamental human right to scientific knowledge,” The Director General,
UNESCO, Irina Bokova</p>
<p><strong>Mother tongue</strong></p>
<p>UNESCO advocates for mother tongue instruction in a bilingual or
multilingual education approach in early years because of its importance
in creating a strong foundation for learning: the use of mother tongue
with your children at home or in pre-school prepares them for the smooth
acquisition of literacy in their mother tongue and eventually, the
acquisition of the second (perhaps national) language at a later stage
in their schooling.</p>
<p>The position of UNESCO towards multilingual education is strengthened
as part of its efforts to promote global citizenship education.</p>
<p>UNESCO defines bilingual and multilingual education as “the use of
two or more languages as mediums of instruction”. The organisation
adopted the term ‘multilingual education’ in 1999 to refer to the use of
at least three languages in education: the mother tongue; a regional or
national language and an international language.</p>
<p>The importance of mother tongue and mother tongue instruction in
early years of schooling is emphasised in the findings of studies,
research and reports such as the annual UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring
Report.</p>
<p>It is in line with this that UNESCO declared a particular day of the
year (February 21, every year) to be celebrated as an International
Mother Language Day with its appropriate themes.</p>
<p>Ghana celebrates this day, particularly the institutions that promote
the development of the indigenous languages such as the University of
Education - Winneba, the Bureau of Ghana Languages (BGL), the Bible
Society of Ghana and Ghana Institute of Languages and Bible Translation
(GILLBT). Even though this is done yearly, it is done somewhat on the
quiet.</p>
<p><strong>Suggestions</strong></p>
<p>If we want the Language Policy to work as expected, then it is time:</p>
<ol><li>The Ghana Education Service (GES) collaborates with these
institutions to create the awareness of the importance of the local
language through the celebration of the day;</li><li>The BGL – the only government institution that is established to
develop and publish literature in the local languages for use in
educational institutions and by the general public – gets directly
involved in all decisions to be arrived at in terms of material
development since that is why they exist;</li><li>The BGL is brought directly under the Ministry of Education (as
before) since the direct beneficiaries of its products are mainly pupils
and students;</li><li>The government resources the BGL, which has professional language experts who work with language committees</li><li>At least a local or Ghanaian language must be studied at the senior
high school level in the first two years (apart from the junior high
school (JHS), upper and lower primary levels).</li></ol>
<p>We can dream as a nation to become the next ‘America’, the next
‘Malaysia’, the next ‘Korea’, the next ‘Germany’, the next ‘Japan’ and a
few. But we must know that the first ‘America’, the first ‘Malaysia’,
the first ‘Korea’, the first ‘Germany’ and the first ‘Japan’ got to
where they are now by first developing their own languages which were
very much useful as basic tools for development.</p>
<p>UNESCO, an International Organisation, knew this, hence its policy
and annual global celebrations as far as the mother language is
concerned. Note that language is part of culture: once our languages are
gone, our culture is gone. Also, the real and natural identity of a
person is his/her language. It is,therefore, a fact that one’s identity
is lost once he/she does not understand or speak his/her native language
and as expected. An alien on his/her own native soil and yet
independent? Give it a thought.</p><p><a href="http://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/can-the-educational-policy-on-ghanaian-languages-become-a-reality.html">http://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/can-the-educational-policy-on-ghanaian-languages-become-a-reality.html</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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