To help address the many challenges faced by the ECOWAS sub-region, Ghana is being urged to reinvent its educational policy to integrate the progressive learning of French right from the basic level through to the tertiary level.

This is envisaged to be helpful because Ghana is bordered to the North, East and West by French speaking countries.

The Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Adbou Moumouni, Niger, Professor Adamou Rabinni shared these sentiments when he was speaking at the launch of a policy brief titled, “Decentralized urban water supply services and access to water under urbanization in West Africa” under the LIRA project at Wa.

The project is spearheaded in Ghana by the Simon Diedong Dombo University for Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS), in Niger by the University of Abdou Moumouni and led by the University of Bonn, Germany.

Professor Rabinni said for persons resident in the Upper West Region it is essential to learn to speak French because the region is a critical entry point french speaking countries like Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso in the sub-region.

He said this would also make it easier for institutions, particularly universities, to partner and share strategies that could help address the many challenges that face the ECOWAS Bloc.

“When I look at the Upper West Region, the region has an important position on Ghana. I can say it is the door of all french speaking countries. People leaving Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger pass through the Upper West Region. It is very important to break the language barrier between French speaking countries and English speaking countries,” he said.

Professor Rabinni stressed that the world has moved from being a world where only one language is a prominent one.

He said the world now can be considered as multi-lingual thus the need for Ghana to expand it’s language base, beginning with French.

The Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih admitted that Ghana’s french learning strategy is deficient.

He explained that it is easier for persons from French speaking countries to express themselves adequately in English rather from persons from English speaking countries like, Ghana, to express themselves in French.

He said this is a situation that needs quick redress if Ghana wants to take advantage of the many opportunities in West Africa.