The Executive Director of the Institute for Education Studies (IFEST), Dr. Peter Partey Anti, has described the government’s new directive mandating the use of Ghanaian local languages as the medium of instruction in schools as premature.

Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen show, Dr. Anti said while teaching in local languages is a good idea in principle, the practical implementation poses significant challenges due to the lack of uniformity and preparedness across the country.

“It’s easy to say we should teach in our local languages, but implementation won’t be as easy as it sounds,” he noted.

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Dr Anti emphasised that the Ministry of Education must ensure the right structures, rules, and training are in place before enforcing such a policy.

He questioned how teachers posted to different communities would effectively teach in local languages they may not speak and urged the ministry to focus on developing a clear implementation framework.

Dr. Anti added that education policies must go through proper testing and continuous evaluation before being rolled out nationwide.

His comments follow an announcement by Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu, who declared that the use of Ghanaian mother tongues is now compulsory in all schools.

However, Deputy Minister Dr. Clement Apaak later clarified that the directive applies only to the early years of basic education.