Provide A Policy Frame Work For French Language - Prof Kuupole

Lack of strong political will to formulate a policy framework for the study of the French language is a major setback that has contributed in the abysmal performance by students studying the language in Ghana. Professor Domwini Dabire Kuupole, the Pro Vice Chancellor (Pro VC) of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) who made this comment on Wednesday, said this had resulted in inconsistencies in the teaching and learning of French as a foreign language in Ghana. He made the observation at an inaugural lecture at UCC dubbed �from the savannah to the coastal lands in search of knowledge through the French language: a herd boy�s tale� where he recounted his life story on how he rose from being a herd-boy to his present position. He said other factors inhibiting the spread of the French language include, inadequate number of teachers produced, lack of interest and continuation and the fear of failure on the part of student , less improved curriculum, insufficient funding, ignorance of the importance of French, and more importantly, a weak political will in promoting the language. He said it was important for government to make a conscious effort to provide a framework for the implementation of an educational policy that will seek to solve all the challenges facing the teaching and learning of the language. �People lose interest and drop out due to lack of motivation, psychological inhibition, and probably because of the way the language is handled� he said, adding that even at the tertiary level, UCC can admit over 100 French students, but would be left with only about 20 in the end. Presenting statistics to back his findings, he said in the year 2008, there was a shortage of 4,000 French teachers at the Junior High School level and also in 2009, out of the total of 2,149 French teachers nationwide, only 829 were trained. He again lamented that teachers were mostly posted to the cities leaving the rural areas to their fate, citing an instance in 2010 where in the Northern Region, of 174 French teachers posted, only 48 representing 28% were trained with 50% of the total figure deployed in the Tamale area. �Some heads will never even implement French studies in their schools because they themselves do not like it� he said, and added that French language was a very important variable in national development and therefore needed to be learnt. He also stressed that the French language which is spoken in over 25 countries by 80 million people either as a first or second language will help one gain international recognition and to express thoughts and feelings which is also why it should be taken seriously. He suggested that teachers could be included in curriculum review to improve the quality of learning, and also that French should be made a high priority such that its teachers could be given incentives and motivated and also relieved of teaching other subjects to focus on French. The pro VC also said that the government could take a second look at the country�s language policy by implementing a three-language policy thus by helping every child speak at least two other local languages in addition to their mother tongues.