The Ministry of Education has dismissed claims circulating in the public domain that the Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, is seeking to impose the teaching of Arabic on Ghanaian students.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Ministry said there is no such policy or directive.
“The Ministry wishes to state categorically that there is no policy or directive to impose the study of Arabic on Ghanaian students,” the statement signed by Press Secretary to the Minister, Hashmin Mohammed, said.
The Ministry clarified that Arabic is a language and not a religion, and therefore its teaching should not be misconstrued as the promotion of any religious belief.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Arabic is a language, not a religion. The teaching and learning of Arabic should therefore not be misconstrued as the promotion or imposition of any religious belief,” it added.
According to the Ministry, the process to develop a standardised curriculum for the teaching and learning of Arabic predates the appointment of Mr Iddrisu as Minister for Education, having started some four years ago with the revision of the curriculum at the senior high school level.
It explained that the official recognition of Arabic as part of the primary school curriculum led to the establishment of English-Arabic or Islamic schools in the country some decades ago, but teaching in those schools has been without an officially approved standardised curriculum.
“Each school has been implementing its own Arabic curriculum,” the Ministry noted.
It said the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), as part of its mandate, therefore developed a unitary and standardised curriculum to regulate its teaching and learning in these schools.
“NaCCA’s recommendation to the Honourable Minister, for the adoption of this new Arabic language curriculum was therefore meant for only these schools and any other public primary school, which may want to implement it in the future. It was never meant to make the language a mandatory or compulsory subject in our primary schools,” the statement stressed.
The Ministry further emphasized that Arabic is not a compulsory subject for Ghanaian students generally.
“The development of a standardised curriculum does not amount to making Arabic compulsory for non-Muslim students, nor does it constitute an attempt to impose any religion on Ghanaian learners. Indeed, Arabic, just like French or any other foreign language, apart from the English language, remains an optional subject in our public schools,” it said.
The Ministry urged the public, media practitioners and all stakeholders to verify information from authoritative sources before circulating claims that may create fear or religious tension.
