The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Reverend Professor Emmanuel Adow Obeng, on Tuesday announced that the university would within the next two years, establish a school of languages at its faculty of arts, to promote the use of indigenous languages and linguistics to enhance national unity and development.
He referred to the "school of thought" that says that, as part of the educational reforms, basic school pupils should be instructed in the local language to enhance learning, and that two or three Ghanaian languages should also be selected and taught in all schools and be used alongside the English language as national languages.
Rev. Prof. Obeng, who was speaking at the opening of a three-day "Inter-University Conference on the co-existence of languages in West Africa", at the UCC, underscored the important role indigenous languages played in the socio-cultural, economic and political development of a nation.
The conference, which is being attended by about 50 deans of faculties and other members of the academia from the four of the country's five public universities and from universities in Burkina Faso, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria, is aimed at deliberating on linguistics issues confronting the sub-region.
He, however, expressed fears that if some languages were chosen as national languages, some Ghanaians may politicise the issue, with accusations of the marginalisation of other ethnic languages and groups.
The Vice-Chancellor also stressed the need for the nation to take the teaching and learning of French seriously, as Franco-phone countries surround the nation.
Touching on the general situation of the use of indigenous languages to forge unity and development in the sub-region, he said this was proving difficult to achieve, due to the "strong independence" of local languages.
He compared the sub-region to East Africa, where he said countries like Tanzania and Kenya, have succeeded in making Swahili their national languages, and tasked the conference to come out with "concrete proposals" that their respective national authorities, could use to influence their various national agendas, for development.
"Only then, can the time and resources we spend in organizing such meetings can be justified. Only then would we as academics, have contributed to knowledge and for that matter, the advancement of our societies", he declared.
In his address, the Central Regional Minister, Nana Ato Arthur, also underscored the importance of indigenous languages in a nation's advancement and tasked the participants not to depart from the laudable ideas mooted at the 'Inter-governmental Conference in Harare 1997, which sought to support the use of indigenous languages as a means of instruction in schools.
He said this was imperative, as the conference, resulted in a declaration, in which the various countries expressed their commitment to the vision of Africa, by among others, ensuring a continent, where scientific and technological discourse, would be conducted in the national languages as part of cognitive preparation for facing the challenges of the next millennium.
"The co-existence of languages in our part of the world is a must and this conference should enforce the need for our people to continue to live and work in peace, despite our diverse backgrounds and languages", he stressed.
Nana Arthur said Ghana had at the moment done a lot in ensuring this, while languages like Akan, Akuapem, Dagaare, Ga and Nzema, are also being studied at some of the higher institutions of learning.
He emphasized that the work done in the development of these languages, should not be allowed "to go waste, since the benefits to be derived in the use of local languages in the schools "cannot be quantified".
The dean of the Faculty of Arts, Prof. Donwin Kuupole, who presided, also tasked the conference to help formulate effective language policies in the sub-region.
Papers presented at the conference, which was jointly organized by the UCC and the University of Ouagadougou, include 'subtractive multilingualism and capital and sustaining the language development effort'.