‘There is absolutely no new policy’ – Mahama dismisses Arabic, Chinese curriculum claims

President John Dramani Mahama has dismissed reports that the government has introduced a new policy to add Arabic and Chinese to the curriculum of public schools in Ghana.

President Mahama said the Cabinet, which he chairs, has not approved any such policy or curriculum changes.

Speaking on September 12 while speaking during his “Resetting Ghana” tour in Wa in the Upper West Region, he said the Cabinet, which he chairs, has not approved any such policy or curriculum changes.

“Let me disabuse your minds. There is absolutely no new policy that says that Arabic and Chinese are going to be introduced in our school curriculum. I chair cabinet, and I can tell you no new curriculum has come for approval by cabinet,” he assured.

The President explained that any major changes to subjects taught in public schools must first be presented to Cabinet for approval before becoming official government policy.

“Cabinet approves the curriculum. If there’s a curriculum that is making changes to the subjects that are taught to our children, it will come to the cabinet before it becomes official policy,” he said.

He therefore rejected claims circulating that Arabic and Chinese were being introduced into Ghana’s public school curriculum.

“And so those who are going around and saying, Arabic is going to be introduced, Chinese is going to be introduced, I want to say with all emphasis as President of the Republic of Ghana that no such policy has been approved by the cabinet that I chair,” he said.

President Mahama also questioned the practicality of introducing Chinese at a time when Ghana continues to face challenges in teaching French, particularly given the country’s location among French-speaking neighbours.

“We’re surrounded by French-speaking countries. We’re not even getting a handle on the teaching of French. Why would we go and introduce Chinese? Where are we even going to get Chinese teachers? Even French teachers are hard to find,” he said.

He further questioned where Ghana would source enough Chinese teachers if such a policy were to be introduced.

“Where are we going to get Chinese teachers? We have to send planes to China and fly them down to come and teach our children French,” he said.

On Arabic, President Mahama explained that the training of Arabic teachers had historical links to efforts to encourage Muslim communities to send their children to school.

He said previous concerns had centered on fears among some Muslim communities that their children could be converted to another religion through the formal education system.

“There is training of Arabic teachers because in Rawlings’ time, we noticed that the Muslim communities were not sending their children to school. And they were not sending their children to school because they were afraid that their children would be converted to some other religion,” he said.