The Ministry of Education has clarified that there is no policy or directive to impose the study of Arabic on Ghanaian students.
It said Arabic, like other foreign languages apart from English and French, remained an optional subject in public schools.
For the avoidance of doubt, it said, Arabic remained a language and not a religion.
“The teaching and learning of Arabic should, therefore, not be misconstrued as the promotion or imposition of any religious belief,” a statement signed by the Press Secretary to the Minister of Education, Hashmin Mohammed, said.
It clarified that the process to develop a standardised curriculum for the teaching and learning of Arabic predated the appointment of the sector minister, Haruna Iddrisu and that it began with the revision of the curriculum at the senior high school level about four years ago.
“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,” the statement said, adding that “hitherto, the teaching and learning of Arabic in these schools had been without any officially approved standardised curricula for all the schools.
Each school has been implementing its own Arabic curriculum”.
NaCCA mandate
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), the statement said, therefore, developed a unitary and standardised official Arabic language curriculum as part of its mandate to regulate the teaching and learning of Arabic in those schools.
It said NaCCA's recommendation to the minister for the adoption of the new Arabic language curriculum was, therefore, meant only for those schools and any other public primary schools that might want to implement it in the future.
The statement said it was never intended to make the language a mandatory subject in primary schools.
“It is, therefore, important to emphasise that the teaching of the language in our public schools was initiated years ago before the current Minister of Education assumed office and is not a personal initiative of the minister.
“Indeed, there are already hundreds of Islamic schools across the country where Arabic is taught, primarily in response to the educational and linguistic needs of their communities.
The development of a standardised curriculum is intended to provide appropriate structure, consistency and quality assurance for the teaching and learning of the language,” the statement said.
The statement clarified that Arabic was not a compulsory subject for Ghanaian students generally.
It said the development of a standardised curriculum did not amount to making Arabic compulsory for non-Muslim students nor did it constitute an attempt to impose any religion on Ghanaian learners.
“The ministry, therefore, urges the public, media practitioners and all stakeholders to verify information from authoritative sources before drawing conclusions or circulating claims that may unnecessarily create fear, misunderstanding or religious tension,” it said.
