Claim: Ghana removes English as the teaching language in basic schools
Source: Nairametrics
Verdict: Misleading
Researched by Gifty Danso
A Nigerian news website, Nairametrics, has reported that the Government of Ghana has removed English as a teaching language in basic schools across the country.
The platform shared a flyer with the image of President John Dramani Mahama and a caption that read: “Ghana removes English as Teaching Language.” Their post of the flyer on X, however, had a caption that read: “Government of Ghana has announced that local languages will now replace English as the primary medium of instruction in basic schools across the country.”
The viral post has since gained 186.8K views, 137 comments, 622 reposts, 1.9K likes and 84 bookmarks.
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The post further claimed that under the policy, “children from kindergarten to primary six will be taught mainly in their native languages, with English introduced gradually as a second language.”
GhanaFact also found that the claim has begun circulating on TikTok.
- Has the government removed English as the language of instruction in basic schools?
- Will the policy affect children from kindergarten to primary six?
This fact-check will verify these claims.
Fact-check
The first anomaly in the claim is that the post referred to Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum as the current Education Minister, which is False. The current Minister of Education is Haruna Iddirsu.
With regards to the announcement of using indigenous languages to teach, on October 30, 2025, the Ministry of Education, in a statement signed by Deputy Education Minister, Clement Apaak, clarified that the government has not “cancelled” or dropped the use of English as the language of instruction in basic schools.
The statement noted that the policy “on the use of children’s home languages with additional languages; English, carefully introduced alongside, is not new. The policy has been in existence since independence, but implementation of it has not been effective and has stalled.”
Additionally, in a series of posts on Facebook by the Ministry of Education on November 4, 2025, the Deputy Minister said: “Let me be clear: English is not being removed from our curriculum. We value English and other international languages. We are only strengthening the foundation so that children can learn English – and every subject – more effectively.”
Genesis of the controversy
The Education Ministry’s clarification was after the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, directed the Ghana Education Service (GES) to implement the mandatory use of local language as the medium of instruction in basic schools.
“Mr. President, in line with that and with your authority, I am directing the Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the GES that from today, teacher use of mother tongue instruction is now compulsory in all Ghanaian schools,” the Minister said during the launch of the Free Tertiary Education for Persons with Disability on October 24, 2025 (here, and here).
The Minister’s statement was clarified by the ministry’s statement indicating that the policy only affects children from kindergarten to primary 3.
“The policy, when enacted through consultation, is to ensure that Ghanaian children by the time they complete Basic Year 3, are well grounded in their playground or home language as a foundation for learning other languages as they progress through their education,” the statement said.
Verdict
The policy around use of local language in basic schools does not abolish English as a language of instruction in schools. The policy also only targets children from kindergarten to primary 3, and not primary 6 as the claim had suggested.
Therefore, the claim is misleading!
Credit for featured image: Ministry of Education GH (Facebook)
