The Deputy Minister for Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, has announced that a frantic effort was being made by the government of Ghana towards increasing the number of Ghanaians who speak and or write the French language in the country.
He explained that the Education Ministry has since 2017 embarked on an ambitious project aimed at nurturing a new generation of Ghanaian citizens capable of using both English and French in their future world of work.
Rev. Ntim Fordjour made the announcement when he delivered an address at the International Centre for Languages Research and Teaching (“Village du Benin”) in Lomé, the Capital of Togo last Friday.
The event brought together French teachers and other stakeholders from Ghana and Togo together to take stock of the teaching and learning of French in the two countries and how to improve on it.
Prudent policies
The Deputy Minister indicated that there were various initiatives being put in place by the government towards the transformation of the nation’s economy and one of them was the intensification of the French language in schools across the country.
Rev. Ntim Fordjour stated that to achieve competitiveness in the job market, the government has introduced a pilot bilingual education and currently, 50 basic schools across the country have benefitted from this innovation, adding that some of the textbooks being developed are for the bilingual school programme.
He mentioned that the selected pupils are learning Science, Mathematics and ICT both in English and in French.
French Language Day
Rev. Fordjour who is also the Member of Parliament for Assin South, proposed the institution of French Language Day in all Schools in the country to popularize the French language in the country.
The Deputy Minister called on the representatives of various universities present at the meeting to expedite actions on their affiliation with the la Francophone institutions.
Rev. Ntim Fordjour mentioned that three universities namely; the University for Development Studies (UDS), SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS) and C K Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS) have joined the network of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie.
The Director General of the International Centre for Languages Research and Teaching (“Village du Benin”), Prof Martin Gbenuga, said the visitation of the Ghanaian delegation had come to cement the long historical and socio-cultural relation that exists between the two countries.
He stated that “this relationship has helped to establish and maintain the over 40-year-old educational cooperation between the two countries in matters of French education”.
Commendation
He commended the government of Ghana for the massive transformation in its education sector making the country the first port of call when it comes to quality education.
The Director General also eulogised Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, for his role towards the pragmatic reforms he has brought in the education sector, particularly in French education in Ghana as well as the ongoing transformation of the nation’s economy through education.
He pledged to deepen the ties between the two countries to ensure that both countries benefit from each other’s expertise.
The Minister of Education for Togo, Prof. Majesté N. Ihou WATEBA, affirmed that ”Village du Bénin” will continue reinforcing its relationship with Ghanaian institutions in charge of initial and continuous training of French teachers.
Some of the institutions from Ghana which took part in the conference were the French Department of the University of Cape Coast, the University of Education – Winneba, the Ghana Education Service, represented by the National Coordination for the Regional Centres for the Teaching of French (CREF).
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