The Principal of Jackson College of Education (JCE), Mrs. Theodosia Jackson is making a strong case for Ghanaians to cherish their local languages in order not to lose their identity as a people.
She said, it is important to preserve our heritage as Ghanaians by bequeathing unadulterated local languages to generations yet unborn.
“Wrong inscriptions written in our various local dialects on billboards, vehicles and even on Compact Discs (CDs) is a clear indication that our local languages are gradually becoming extinct”.
According to her, it is our local languages that define who we are; she further stressed the need to expose Ghanaian children to local languages as a civic responsibility.
Mrs. Jackson made the call in commemoration of this year’s International Day for Mother Languages which is celebrated on February 21, every year.
The day is set aside annually by the United Nations (UN) to promote awareness of language and cultural diversity across the world since
This, Mrs. Jackson believes, is a wake up call for Ghanaians to guard against a similar occurrence in our nation so as to preserve our rich culture and identity for the benefit of posterity.
She urged parents to desist from forcing their children to learn foreign languages at the expense of the local dialect since such practices are inimical to the preservation of our identity as country.
She therefore entreated parents to communicate with their children in local languages and teach them the significance of understanding same as Ghanaians.
To the teachers at the basic schools, the renowned educationist cautioned them to refrain from the over reliance on the use of English as a medium of instruction.
According to her, children can better acquire a second language only when they are proficient in the use of their mother tongue.
‘Any child who is proficient in the use of say, ‘Asante-Twi’ is relatively better positioned to acquire the English language at school’, Mrs Jackson advised.
According to her, our local dialects are rich in proverbs, idiomatic expressions, phrasal verbs among others which if the child learns well at the early stages of life, could be translated in English later in their educational life.
This, she believes aids children to write good essays that are rich in terms of the usage of idiomatic expressions and other devices that embellish language.