The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ahanta West, Mrs Mavis Kuukua Bissue, has officially announced the approval of the Ahanta Language (Ayinda) orthography as part of Ghanaian languages to be taught in schools.
Mrs Bissue, who made the official announcement at a press conference in Accra yesterday, said the decision to ensure approval of the language to be taught in schools was to protect it from eroding among the Ahanta people.
“When I first offered myself for service as MP for Ahanta West, I was keenly aware of the several challenges confronting our people. Among these challenges, one stood out with particular urgency: the gradual erosion and near extinction of our mother tongue, Ayinda,” Mrs Bissue said.
“It is therefore a commitment I made to the people of Ahanta West that, if given the mandate to represent them, I would work to ensure that Ayinda is formally documented, standardised, and incorporated into the national education curriculum as a subject that can be taught and examined on,” she added.
According to Mrs Bissue, the approval of the Ayinda language was essential as it carried the identity, world view, philosophy of life, moral codes, and system of governance of the people of Ahanta.
“The preservation of Ayinda is therefore an act of cultural survival, intergenerational continuity, and dignity for Ahanta land,” Mrs Bissue observed.
Additionally, she said that the approval of Ayinda underscored the importance of the government to act decisively to protect Ghana’s indigenous languages from extinction.
Mrs Bissue expressed gratitude to all stakeholders who contributed to ensure the approval of Ayinda orthography as part of Ghanaian languages to be taught in schools.
She urged Ahantas in the diaspora and the Ahanta business community to invest in education, support training programmes, and encourage the teaching of Ayinda in schools.
Mrs Bissue noted that the Ayindamaale Education Trust Fund which she established last year from next month provide scholarships and bursaries to support brilliant but needy students.
The Acting Executive Director of the Bureau of Ghana Languages, Mr Ebenezer Ahiator, commended the MP for ensuring that Ayinda was added to the languages to be taught in schools.
He further urged individuals and other stakeholders to emulate such a move by the MP and ensure that indigenous languages were protected and preserved.
For his part, the Paramount Chief of Lower Dixcove Nana Akwesi Agyeman IV, said that the people of Ahanta West was grateful for the effort made by Mrs Bissue in ensuring that Ayinda was part of the education curriculum.
He also encouraged the media to help promote the language as well as all other indigenous languages of the country.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
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