Ghana Urges UNESCO to Translate Project into African Languages

Accra (Greater Accra) 14 June ?99

Ghana has called on UNESCO to ensure the translation of the "History of African Project" book into different African languages.

This will make it possible to teach African history and culture to people outside the continent.

Mr Ekow Spio Garbrah, minister of Education, said this last night on arrival at the Kotoka International Airport after leading a five-member delegation to Paris, France, for an executive board meeting of UNESCO.

He said Ghana made it clear that African history is not for Africans alone but also for other nationals.

Therefore, schools outside the continent must be encouraged to include African history in their curriculum.

The Minister said the conference discussed the slave trade and decided that the subject must be placed on the agenda of the next general conference.

He said the slave trade project would demonstrate to the outside world what Africans went through so as to appreciate African problems and the need to justify the strong emphasis on her culture and educational structure for development.

On education, the minister said it is one of the priorities of the organisation and it has decided to place emphasis on mathematics, science and girls' education.

For this reason, he said, a substantial amount of its budget is spent on education in general.