The Minister-designate for the Greater Accra Region, Henry Quartey has promised to grant scholarships to motivate students to study the Ga language.

He believes that the provision of scholarships will serve as an incentive to compel more students to develop an interest in the Ga language.

“Some other factors may be that the few Ga teachers we have in some cases are transferred to other jurisdictions, Mr. Chairman when given the nod by the grace of God, I will collaborate with the Minister of Education and the Ghana Education Service to ensure that the few Ga teachers that we have, are brought back to teach Ga in the schools.

“We will fall on other opinion leaders to support us in trying to as it were grant scholarships for people to begin to have interest in learning the Ga language at the Bureau of Ghana Languages,” Henry Quartey told Parliament’s Appointments Committee.

The Ayawaso Central MP added that his office will also collaborate with the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to secure some funding to provide scholarships for such students.

The former deputy Minister for National Security assured that his office will effectively collaborate with the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to prioritize teaching and learning of the Ga language within the region.

“I will lead a cause to work hand-in-hand with the Ghana Education Service, it should be in the syllabuses but the challenge here is are there enough teachers to be able to teach Ga in the schools and we must make it a priority” the nominee who also doubles as Member of Parliament for Ayawaso Central said.

The former Deputy Minister for Interior also urged parents to encouraged their children to speak the Ga language.

“Parents must also try and encourage their children to speak Ga instead of speaking slangs in Ga and though it is a cosmopolitan area let us also encourage ourselves to also try and speak Ga” urged parents.

He also questioned why the few Ga teachers within the Greater Accra region are being transferred to other regions, adding that when given the nod by Parliament his office will work with the Education Minister to bring back transferring or posting local language teachers outside their home region.

This follows a notice served by the Valley View University Basic Schools to parents that it is phasing out the teaching and learning of Ga, as a Ghanaian language, in their schools.

This, according to a notice signed by Director, Beatrice Ama Ntanu, and dated February 3, 2021, is due to the fact that they have been experiencing difficulty in getting qualified teachers to teach the subject.

Because of this, all affected students from Basic 1 to 3 are left with only the option of learning Twi as a Ghanaian language in the school.

However, the statement indicated that all other classes from Basic four to Basic nine will continue to have the option of choosing between Twi and Ga as languages to study for their Ghanaian language courses.

Following the announcement, there was an uproar on social media after the Valley View University Basic Schools served notice to parents.

The school said it was struggling to get qualified teachers to teach Ga and, therefore, was replacing the subject with Twi.

Some legislatures and traditional rulers including the Oyibi Gonten Mantse, Nii Bortey Kofi Frankwa II, who described the development as worrying to phase out of the Ga language in some schools in the Greater Accra region. Nii Frankwa, therefore, called on the Ministry of Education to make it a priority to train teachers to take up the subject.

But appearing before the Appointments Committee of Parliament, Henry Quartey said he will ensure all professional teachers posted outside the greater Accra region are brought back to the region and the needed incentives will be provided to the students in the various schools.