Member of Parliament for the South Dayi Constituency, Rockson Dafeamekpor, has added his voice to calls for Ghanaians, seeking entry into the United Kingdom, to be exempted from taking the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exams.
The IELTS exams is a mandatory requirement by the British government, which enjoins citizens from some selected countries to pass before they are given permission to either work, stay or school in the United Kingdom.
Since its inception, the IELTS has been part of the criteria on which the British Councils in Ghana and Nigeria, approve VISA applications from local indigenes.
However, in a detailed presentation on the floor of Parliament on February 3, the legislator explained that, the requirement is not necessary for Ghanaians, since Ghana already uses the English Lnaguage as the medium of instruction across all levels of teaching and learning.
In his view, the requirement is burdensome, and poses a lot of inconveniences for Ghana, therefore it must be scrapped.
He further stated that, Ghana was colonised by Britain, and thus having adopted English as the country’s official lingua franca, he does not see the need for Ghanaians to sit the IELTS exams, before entering the United kingdom.
Meanwhile, some aggrieved Nigerians have also taken to Twitter to decry the requirement. According to them, the IELTS exams must be scrapped since Nigeria already uses English in its official communication. The native protestors also added that, the cost of the IELTS exams has become expensive in recent times, hence the need for Nigerians to be exempted from same.
The #ReformIELTSPolicy campaign on Twitter, received the endorsement of the Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, who also indicated that Nigerians deserve an exemption from the test, having been formerly colonised by Britain.
“IELTS is pure extortion. Nigeria with English as its lingua Franca should not be mandated to write IELTS before working or schooling in the U.K. It makes no sense at all. I took up a job in the UK and I didn’t have communication issues even without IELTS. #ReformIELTSPolicy’, an advocate, General Okwulu Okalisia,” tweeted.
Another embattled user with the handle, @EfioItaNyok, wrote, “Dear UK Home Office, respond to the thesis in #ReformIELTSPolicy. You can’t colonise us, neocolonise us so much so that English is our official language which we use from home to post-graduate levels and still ask us to sit for IELTS before gaining entrance to study in the UK.”
With a growing campaign from the West African neighbours, Nigeria, the call by the NDC lawmaker, has been welcomed by many on social media, who also believe that the IELTS policy must be revised, especially amongst British colonies.
Reacting to his statement on the floor of Parliament, some concerned Ghanaians also applauded the call by the MP, and urged government to join the fight.
According to them, this will make life less difficult for the teeming number of Ghanaians, who want to study in the UK, and embark on other related endeavours.