In Ghana, former NaCCA head challenges Mahama’s statement on language policy
In Ghana, former head of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) Prince Hamid Armah questioned President John Mahama’s statement that there is no policy on introducing Arabic and Chinese languages in schools. The president had previously said that the matter should be closed, as the Cabinet had not approved such a policy.
As MyJoyOnline reports, Armah believes that the actions of the Ministry of Education and its agencies indicate work on this initiative. He also served as deputy minister of housing and as a member of parliament for Kwasimintim.
The minister’s statement and the curriculum
According to Armah, Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu publicly announced that Chinese and Arabic would become compulsory foreign languages at the secondary education level and linked this to the president’s vision.
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The former NaCCA head claims that the minister subsequently instructed the council to develop a curriculum, involving 160 writers and reviewers in the work. According to him, the curriculum was completed and formally presented to the minister in July 2026; Arabic and Chinese were proposed in it as foreign language options.
Preparations for implementation
Armah also said that the minister sent the curriculum to the Ghana Education Service for review before implementation. He claims that shortly before the president’s statement about the absence of a policy, NaCCA trained teachers to teach under the new Chinese-language curriculum.
In the former council head’s view, the lack of Cabinet approval does not invalidate the work already carried out by state institutions. He also questioned why the authorities advanced preparations to the stage of teacher training without resolving the issue of the availability of Chinese-language teachers. All these claims represent the position of Prince Hamid Armah.
