France promotes French in schools

Accra, Feb. 19, GNA - The French government on Monday donated books worth 100,000 dollars to the Regional Centres for the Training of French (CREF) to facilitate the teaching and learning of French in Ghana. The donation, which covers Mount Mary, Bagabaga and Wesley Teacher Training Schools, would improve on the syntax, grammar and vocabulary of students.

Mrs Angelina Baiden Amissah Deputy Minister, Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, said the presentation had come at a time when the Ministry was proactively promoting initiatives towards strengthening the teaching and learning of French in schools.

This, she said, was to ensure that every Ghanaian child was exposed to French at the Junior Secondary Level, adding that efforts were being made to increase the number of French teachers at the training colleges with support from the French government.

Two more training colleges, one in the north and one in the middle belt- Bagabaga and Wesley respectively, had been added to St. Mary's in the south to produce more teachers for the basic schools, she said.

She expressed government's appreciation to the French government for its support in the expansion of the teaching of French in the three institutions saying, "the support we receive and continue to receive from the French government in pursuance of these projects is laudable".

Mrs Evelyne Decorps, Charg=E9 d'Affaires of the French Embassy, recommended the creation of a specialised structure within the Education Ministry, which could have ties with the various agencies in Francophone International Organisation to help the promotion of French.

She pledged the French government's support to such an initiative, saying the French language did not belong to France alone but was shared by many people with different cultures and that gave a rich variety of literature.