The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has challenged President John Dramani Mahama to account for conflicting positions over the proposed introduction of Chinese and Arabic into Ghana’s school curriculum.
The party’s Education Sector Policy Committee said the President’s denial that his government had approved a new policy on the teaching of the two languages was at odds with a series of steps it said had already been taken by the Education Ministry and its agencies.
The NPP said Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu had, on April 24, 2026, announced that Chinese and Arabic would be made compulsory foreign languages at the secondary school level as part of President Mahama’s education vision.
It said the announcement was followed by work by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), which engaged about 160 writers and reviewers to develop a revised curriculum incorporating the languages among foreign-language options.
According to the party, the completed curriculum was submitted to Mr Iddrisu on July 22.
Rather than rejecting the document, the NPP said, the Minister referred it to the Ghana Education Service (GES) with instructions to prepare it for full implementation and execution in schools.
The party further pointed to a September 3 training programme organised by NaCCA with support from the Confucius Institute at the University of Cape Coast, where teachers were trained in preparation for the Chinese language curriculum.
It said these developments raised questions over the extent to which the policy had been authorised by the government.
“If the Minister announced and pursued this policy without presidential and Cabinet approval, the President must sack him. If, however, the Minister acted with the authority or knowledge of the President or Cabinet, then the President must apologise to the Ghanaian people for denying a policy his Government had already set in motion,” the statement said.
The NPP also rejected the suggestion that subsequent clarification of the policy as optional at the basic school level had settled the matter.
It noted that Mr Iddrisu’s April announcement had specifically referred to compulsory foreign-language education at the secondary level, while the later clarification focused on the basic-school curriculum.
NPP Questions Government Spending
The party also wants the government to explain the public resources committed to the process.
It questioned the rationale for engaging curriculum writers and reviewers, deploying technical personnel and conducting teacher training if no new policy had received government approval.
“If there was ‘absolutely no new policy’, why were public resources committed to developing the curricula, preparing the system for implementation and training teachers?” the NPP asked.
The party also raised concerns about the availability of teachers, particularly after President Mahama questioned whether Ghana had enough Chinese-language teachers when the country was already facing shortages of French teachers.
It said the issue warranted an explanation as to why implementation preparations and teacher training had proceeded despite the concerns over teacher availability.
NPP Separates Arabic and Chinese Issues
The opposition party further argued that Arabic and Chinese should not be treated as one policy issue.
It said Arabic had already been available as an optional subject at the junior high school level before the current administration came into office.
Chinese, it said, was different because its inclusion was linked to a new process in 2026 involving curriculum development, ministerial consideration, preparations for implementation and teacher training.
The NPP said the controversy therefore extended beyond the languages themselves and raised questions about the authority of ministers, coordination between government institutions and the use of public funds.
“If the Minister acted without authority, he must be relieved of his position. If he acted with the authority or knowledge of the President or Cabinet, the President must apologise to the nation and provide a full account of the policy, the expenditure incurred and why the public was told otherwise,” the statement said.
The party said parents, teachers, school administrators and taxpayers required a clear and consistent position from the government on the status of the proposed curriculum changes.
