Education Minister Iddrisu Mandates Mother Tongue Instruction in All Ghanaian Schools to Boost Learning Outcomes
Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has issued a bold directive mandating the compulsory use of mother tongue instruction across all Ghanaian schools, signaling a transformative push to enhance comprehension and learning outcomes, particularly at the basic education level.
Announced during the launch of the Free Tertiary Education Programme for Persons Living with Disabilities on Saturday, the policy aligns with President John Dramani Mahama’s “reset agenda” to reform education and preserve Ghana’s linguistic heritage.
“I am directing the DG of the GES and the Ghana Education Service that from today, teacher use of mother tongue instruction is now compulsory in all Ghanaian schools,” Iddrisu declared, tasking the GES with strict enforcement. The initiative aims to leverage local languages like Akan, Ewe, Ga, Dagbani, and others to improve understanding, especially in early-grade reading and math, where studies show 60% of pupils struggle due to English-only barriers.
“This is part of President Mahama’s reset agenda,” he emphasized, citing evidence that mother tongue instruction boosts literacy rates by up to 25% in multilingual settings.
The directive, effective immediately, requires teachers to use students’ dominant local languages in classrooms, particularly in Kindergarten to Basic 6, transitioning to English as a second language per the 2007 Education Reform guidelines.
The GES is developing training modules for 180,000+ basic school teachers, with compliance audits set for January 2026. This builds on pilot successes in 11 languages across 1,200 schools since 2019, which raised reading proficiency by 15% in rural areas.
However, urban schools with mixed linguistic populations may face logistical hurdles, prompting calls for bilingual aids.
