The Ghana Education Service (GES), has defended the government’s decision to adopt local languages as the medium of instruction from kindergarten to primary three, noting that the approach mirrors practices in many developed nations.

According to the Public Relations Officer, Daniel Fenyi, countries that have advanced in education often begin by teaching children in their native languages, which helps strengthen their cognitive development and cultural foundation.

He explained that such children later excel in global communication while maintaining fluency in their own languages.

"There are existing examples to tap from, for example, when you go to many advanced countries which have become modules for developing countries such as Ghana to emulate and learn from, you will notice one trend among that, that majority use their local languages as medium of instruction, go to USA, you will find their American English been use, go to UK, go to Germany, go to Singapore, China, Italy, France, you will find out that all these advanced countries use their native languages as medium of instruction in their schools," he said on JoyNews The Pulse on Monday.

"Is it coincidental that after using their own languages as medium of instruction they have become developed countries? we want to understand that module, how that works, the connection between sustaining your identity and language and development, and we feel and believe that there is a strong connection of your identity, or people been proud of their identity been able to connect with their root and their country and development," he added.

Mr Fenyi stressed that Ghana’s adoption of this model is intended to ensure that pupils not only perform well academically but also grow with a strong sense of identity and pride in their cultural heritage.

"We believe that adopting some of these approaches and contextualizing them to suit our unique context here could be helpful in our development agenda."