The Ga Dangme Hewaloi Hewamenya, a group of Ga Dangme indigenes have called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to reintroduce the teaching of the Ga Dangme language into basic and senior high schools in the national capital, Accra as done in the past.
Addressing a press conference in Accra, the group, led by Osofo Nii Naate Atswele Agbo Nartey, said the Ga Dangme language was gradually dying out of schools and children were made to speak only English to the neglect of their mother tongue.
An observation across schools in the capital they said, indicated that, they lack teachers to teach the Ga Dangme language which did not help in the promotion of Ghanaian culture and heritage.
“The Ga Dangme needs to learn or speak Ga Dangme more. The Ga Dangme language must go back to the classrooms to restore confidence in the Ga Dangme youth and make our culture very attractive as we continue to demonstrate discipline and high moral standards,” he stated.
He added that, graduates from the University of Education, Winneba who studied Ga Dangme and teachers of Ga Dangme descent were posted to other regions to teach English instead of bringing them home to teach the language at schools.
“Ga Dangme language must be added to school’s curricula and irrelevant transfer of trained Ga Dangme teachers from Greater Accra to other regions should be stopped,” he stressed.
The group also called for scholarships to be given to outstanding Ga Dangme students by universities in Greater Accra and financial institutions and sponsorship awards programmes for Ga Dangme by both public and private organisations should be initiated.
They urged Ga Dangmes to ensure the promotion of their culture that were positive, educative and reformative since identity was paramount.
Nii Agbo Nartey asked non Ga Dangme residence from other regions and other countries to honour the hospitality of the Ga Dangme people by learning and speaking their language and observe their culture and tradition.
He also urged parents to introduce the Ga Dangme language to children at homes to enable them to speak fluently as they capture other languages away from home.
BY MICHAEL D. ABAYATEYE