The former Dean of Education at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Professor Winston Kwame Abroampa, has urged that teachers’ proficiency in local Ghanaian languages should directly influence their postings. He argued that the current deployment system often places educators in areas where they cannot effectively teach in the students’ mother tongue, creating mismatches and impeding learning.
Speaking at a National Stakeholder Engagement on the project titled “Impact of Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices on Social and Emotional Development in Diverse Early Childhood Classrooms in Ghana,” Prof. Abroampa noted that although teachers declare their language skills on posting forms, this information rarely guides their placement. He recommended a review of the deployment policy to align with the Ministry of Education’s directive that children in public basic schools from kindergarten to primary three should learn in their mother tongue.
The initiative, backed by a $500,000 grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada and implemented by KNUST in partnership with the Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (GPE-KIX), targets culturally sensitive teaching methods to enhance social-emotional learning. Conducted over two years, it was piloted in eight schools across Ashanti and Greater Accra regions.
Baseline results revealed that many teachers were unfamiliar with culturally responsive pedagogy, often defaulting to English despite policy guidelines. Parents’ perception that English equates to intelligence adds pressure to abandon local languages. Additionally, children fluent in local languages often acted as peer translators in linguistically diverse classrooms, raising concerns about accuracy and comprehension.
The Ashanti Regional Education Director, Dr William Kwame Amankara Appiah, praised the research, highlighting that scaling up the project could improve student integration and confidence, while reinforcing fluency in their native language.
