Insist on use of mother tongue in teaching — African Confideration of Principals
The African Confederation of Principals (ACP) says African countries must insist on using a child’s mother tongue in teaching.
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It has, subsequently, recommended the regulation of the use of foreign language to teach.
“The function of leadership in education is crucial. Every child has a potential no matter the child’s background. School ,therefore, determines a child’s success in life and leadership should play a pivotal role in this direction,” it said in a communique issued at the end of its three-day conference in Accra.
Changes in policies
Rapid changes in education policies, it said, tended to bring about lack of confidence in the sector and that this must be avoided as much as possible.
“Policies must,therefore, take cognisance of the inherent disadvantages in the system and ensure equity. This can lead to increased access and retention, and this will impact positively on the children within the system, as well as improve their chances of having quality life,”.
The conference was on the theme: “Educating The African Child: Walking The Policy Talk”.
As a continental body, it said the ACP still believed that the “African Child is the future of our continent and that the ACP will do everything possible to ensure that the continent’s high schools will produce a new African child who will be very competitive in the global environment”.
The communique said there was the need to inculcate a school leader’s programme into the national educational policy of countries to ensure holistic nurturing of students to become well-rounded and contribute their quota toward the development of their countries.
Sustaining policies
“The conference is of the view that ensuring the sustainability of education policies should be the business of every school leader. And such policies should be informed by national aspirations. Situations where there are no political will to implement policies must be avoided as much as possible since such situations do not encourage sustainability of policies”.
It said school leaders should also be pro-active in policy implementations.
Education Policies
The conference, it said, was of the view that efforts should be made to depoliticise policies on education, adding that “there is the need to formulate a national policy on human capital development and also create centres of excellence to give equal opportunities to good students, irrespective of their background”.
Equity in the delivery of education, it said, was about participation, inclusion and fairness, and that heads of associations should work on becoming policy originators.
“Governments should involve policy implementers when developing policies”.
