Many more children in Ga communities in the Greater Accra Region will now stand a chance of widening their access to quality education at all levels of the educational ladder.
This follows a soon-to-be-rolled-out scholarship package for children of Ga-Dangme descent by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey.
Addressing the 2021 Homowo Lecture series in Accra, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, said the move is part of long-term and deliberate measures to bridge educational inequality in Ga-speaking communities.
The introduction of the scholarship scheme is aimed at equipping Ga Dangbe natives with the necessary skills to make them well-placed for the job market and reduce unemployment in the communities.
To achieve this, the Minister says a committee will soon be instituted to proffer modalities for the implementation of the initiative.
“We’ve had discussions. I need your help to ensure that Ga-Adangbe students from JHS receive scholarships from us. From Ada to LADMA, even if we are awarding ten scholarships in each place, they could become graduates and serve as civil servants, which will be good for us. I’ll institute a committee to make this happen,” he said.
Among other plans put in place by the Minister is the prioritization of the teaching of the Ga language in basic schools in the region.
It will be recalled that at his ministerial vetting, Mr. Quartey mentioned that one of the things he was going to treat as important was the teaching and learning of the Ga language in schools within the region.
It came on the back of fears that the study of the indigenous language is phasing out due to the seeming shortage of teachers for the subject.
But as an update, the Minister said discussions have now been had with the Ministry of Education to make this a reality.
“During my vetting, I promised that the Ga language would be taught in schools in the region. I’ve already discussed this with the Education Minister. The Ministry will soon put a system in place to bring in more Ga teachers for the schools.”
One other thing the Minister is envisioning is the establishment of a Ga-Dangbe research center to help preserve the history, culture, and heritage of the Ga people.
“I’ll advise that we should set aside a place to build a centre to preserve our Ga-Adangbe books, history, and archives. We will lobby to get people to donate computers for the facility. Everything is now moving online. We should work on what I’ve spoken about. We can call it the Ga-Adangbe research centre, so our history and everything about us is kept there.”
“We can even roll out the scholarship initiative I spoke about through the secretariat of the research centre. We have to ensure that the facility is ready in a year’s time.”
In the meantime, the Minister also used the occasion to advise against acts of division between members of the Ga community, adding that the manner in which the Greater Accra Region lags behind can probably be reversed if indigenes foster unity among themselves for a collective goal.
He thus called for an all-hands-on-deck approach in revamping the region’s socio-economic progress.
