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English no more the medium of instruction in
Ghanaian schools? Crap!!
By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor
Friday, October 16, 2015
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:
"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.
"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:
http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2015/October-16th/ghana-to-change-english-as-medium-of-instruction.php).
MY REACTION
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!!
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.
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.
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.
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:
"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.
"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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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?
When the Great Osagyefo 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?
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?
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.
Folks, I wish that the government and its
functionaries will be circumspect in making public
utterances that carry more weight than we can bear.
I shall return…
• E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com
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to continue the conversation.
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