Mrs Rebecca Akita, the Acting Executive Director, GhLA, said the core objective of the French Learning Centre, Accra, was to provide free basic lessons in French for both adults and students.

She said patronising the Centre would motivate students with a sincere desire to learn about French language and francophone cultures. Mrs Akita, who made the appeal on Wednesday, at the competition for first and second cycle institutions to celebrate Francophonie Festival in Accra, said the government attaches serious importance to the teaching and learning of French, hence the setting up of the French Learning and Documentation Centre.

She said the Centre would soon be replicated throughout the regional capitals of the nation.

The Francophonie Festival is held annually on March 20, to commemorate the day on which the International Organisation of Francophonie was founded. This year’s event took the form of competitions in songs, poetry recitals, and reading amongst pupils from primary schools, students from senior and junior high schools in the Greater Accra Region.

The aim of the event was to empower the participants to see French learning as fun.

The participating schools included Bishop Girls, Bishop Mixed, Independent Avenue One Basic School, Ringway Estates Primary School, Queen Elizabeth II School, and the Ghana Education Service Model School.

The celebration was organised by the Secretariat of Francophone Affairs of the Ministry of Education, the Greater Accra Branch of GhLA, and French Teachers in the Region with the support of the International Organisation of Francophonie.

Mr Louis Mwinguole, the Head, French Secretariat, Ministry of Education, advised all pupils and students in the various disciplines and fields of study to take up the study of French very seriously and to speak it when they were in Francophone environment and eventually make Ghana a multilingual country.

“People acquire a language not for the sake of it but because behind every language there is culture, there is technology, there is a technical know-how, a means to development,” he said.“It is for these reasons that the Ministry of Education has over the years encouraged students in basic, secondary and tertiary to study French and government has a decision to popularise French as an important tool of communication for many Ghanaians,” Mr Mwinguole added.

Mr Morrison Opam Adjei, a former Director, Sub-vented Agencies Reform Programme, Public Sector Reform Secretariat, who chaired the function said learning French was a laudable initiative, since it would open doors in the near future for international job opportunities.

Mr Guy Ebenezer Amaterfio, the Greater Accra Regional Librarian, said the Centre was opened to the public, and he further urged them to patronise it to enhance their French. At the end of the Competition, for the primary section, Ringway Estates Primary emerged first followed by Independence Avenue, with Bishop Girls placing third.

For the Junior High, Bishop Mixed was first, while Queen Elizabeth II and Bishop Girls were second and third. In the Senior High category, Labone Senior High School beat Holy Spirit Cathedral Senior High School to occupy the first position.Both participating schools and participants were given deserving wards.