In Ghana, call made to pilot Chinese language teaching in public schools
In Ghana, Africa Education Watch Executive Director Kofi Asare called for first launching a pilot project to teach Chinese in selected public schools, and only then deciding whether to expand it nationwide. As MyJoyOnline reports, he believes the pilot should help assess the effectiveness and feasibility of studying Mandarin within Ghana's basic education system.
Results of the pilot project
Asare stated that the results of the trial should determine the next steps. If the pilot shows that teaching Chinese is appropriate for public schools, the programme could be expanded. If the outcome is different, the approach should be reviewed, he said.
According to the head of Africa Education Watch, Ghana already has a certain foundation for teaching Mandarin: it is offered in some schools and higher education institutions. He also noted that over the past ten years, more than 15,000 Ghanaian citizens have studied Mandarin through partnerships involving the Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana and the University of Cape Coast.
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Access to education
Asare believes that a pilot project in public schools could broaden access to subjects that are currently available mainly to students at some private schools. In his assessment, Chinese is among such subjects, while not all parents can afford education at private institutions.
Asare's statement came amid discussion over the education minister's remarks about the possible introduction of Arabic and Chinese languages in Ghanaian schools. Participants in the debate assess differently the need for, scale of, and mechanism for implementing such an initiative, while the government says that no relevant policy exists.
