The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) of copying its idea of making the Arabic language an examinable subject in schools.
The Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, during an interaction with the Muslim Community at Nsawam Zongo, as part of his campaign tour of the Eastern Region said “President Mahama has agreed that, from 2017, Senior High School students will study Arabic like they do in the English language.”
But speaking on Eyewitness News, Spokesperson for the Flagbearer of the NPP, Mustapha Hamid who lauded the initiative, however wondered how the NDC would implement this policy since it was not their original idea but that of the NPP’s. “It is the usual panic reaction of copying everything the NPP says or puts in its manifesto and because it is not their original idea, they do not know the dynamics that are involved, they have not thought about it , they speak about it in ways that are unfathomable. We have it in our manifesto so it is very clear that it was after our manifesto came that they thought about it”
Mr. Hamid also raised doubts about the possibility of the programme fully taking force in 2017, saying “ from next year, they are going to begin the teaching of Arabic in JHS and SHS but I don’t know how they are going to do that next year because you need to do the training of teachers, you need to do the recruitment of teachers and since it is not their idea, I do not know how they are going to do that. “Some stakeholders in the educational sector have since the announcement raised questions as to why government is taking such a move when there are other languages such as Chinese and French that they can make examinable in schools. But Mr. Hamid defended the decision, saying “there are more speakers of Arabic in Ghana than there are speakers of French” “If French is examinable I don’t see why Arabic should not be examinable.
Arabic is also the language of Islam and because it is the language of Islam, thousands of Muslim children study Arabic willy nilly.
It also a subject at the University of Ghana and those who study the language are required to study the subject so if it is an optional subject it helps .”
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