Mr Frederic Clavier, the French Ambassador to Ghana, has challenged Ghanaians, particularly students, to develop interest in learning the French language to enhance their academic grades and also maximize their job opportunities.
According to him, French was currently an official language in 32 Francophone member countries, the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, as well as the ninth most widely spoken language in five continents.
He said there was the need for increased interest in learning the French language more especially in Ghana, since it’s surrounded by Francophone countries.
He said Ghana must make efforts to break the language barriers to promote security, cultural diversity, peace and unity with her neighbours, and for effective trade and human rights, as well as good governance among other things.
Mr Clavier was addressing a press conference on Wednesday, to launch the annual Franchophonie Festival, which starts in Ghana from March 14 to 29, 2015, and represents a unique opportunity for students, artists, businessmen and teachers, to have the opportunity to develop partnerships with francophone communities.
He called for wider public patronage of the various events, which include a job fair, cultural performance, a film competition awards, beauty pageant and a football tournament.
Mr Clavier said there exists a wide range of global job opportunities for bi and multi lingual individuals, who could earn attractive remunerations, yet such professionals, were very scarce to come by, because people have failed to develop interest in learning other languages to improve upon their lives.
Mr. Gerhard Brugger, the Swiss Ambassador to Ghana, said current statistics on teaching and learning of French at the basic level in Ghana was not encouraging at all, as the teacher student ratio was very poor.
He said assessing the need and the huge gap, the French Government has resolved to improve partnerships with governments in the area of education starting from the basic level through the tertiary, to enhance the teaching and learning of French.
He encouraged all professionals, including politicians and Diplomats to study the French language in order to enhance their opportunities and also widen their communications skills for better negotiations on the global front.
The Franchophonie Festival, which is a month-long celebrations held among all the States and governments world-wide who share the French language, including Ghana, which had been an Associate Member of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (IOF) since 2006, was another way of creating awareness and advocacy for the promotion of such linguistic opportunities in countries.
The IOF alongside its political activities, have missions such as the promotion of the French language, cultural and linguistic diversity, support education, training in both higher and research institutions, as well as foster cooperation in favour of sustainable development.
Dr Eric Graham, the President of the Board of Alliance Francaise Ghana, a French educational institution, said there are various packages for training and effective learning, and encouraged parents to enroll their children at the Centre.
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