Mother tongue for instruction limited to KG to Primary 3 – Education Ministry clarifies

The Ministry of Education has clarified that the directive for local language to be used for instruction in schools applies only to Kindergarten to Primary Three (Lower Primary), not to all basic school levels.

The Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Clement Apaak, speaking at the launch of the Foundational Learning Action Tracker on Monday, October 27, said the directive applies only to the early years of education.

“The Honorable Minister for Education has asked me to clarify that the policy directive he announced on Friday regarding the compulsory use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in our public basic schools is confined, emphasis, confined to KG up to Primary 3.

In other words, KG and Lower Primary. Having clarified what seems to have given a few persons sleepless nights, I bring you greetings,” the Deputy Minister for Education clarified at the event.

The clarification comes after the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has directed the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Ernest Kofi Davis, to make local language compulsory for teaching or instruction in all pre-tertiary schools across the country.

The Education Minister made the announcement on October 24, 2025, at the Accra College of Education during the launch of Free Tertiary Education for Persons with Disabilities, a huge step for inclusive learning.

‎Speaking at the launch of the Free Tertiary Education for Persons with Disabilities in Accra on Friday, October 24, 2025, Mr. Iddrisu said the new directive takes immediate effect under the supervision of the Ghana Education Service (GES).

The Minister in Charge of Education said the decision to use local languages for teaching is aimed at removing the language barrier in education ‎‎and improving learning outcomes at the basic level, and helping children understand lessons better in the languages they speak and know.

He explained that a child learns best in a familiar language and that it is unfair for Ghanaian children to begin their education entirely in English when they come from homes where local languages are spoken.

‎“The story is told of a young girl whose teacher was teaching in English at an early stage, and the child struggled to understand. That child was not born into an English family but a proud Ghanaian family. Every Ghanaian child deserves to learn in a language they understand,” the Minister said.