Ministry of Education Dismisses Claims Of Compulsory Arabic Teaching In Schools

The Ministry of Education has clarified that there is no policy or directive to impose the study of Arabic on Ghanaian students, following widespread misinformation in the public domain.

In a statement signed by the Press Secretary to the Minister, Hashim Mohammed, and released on August 10, 2026, the Ministry said it had taken note of misconceptions suggesting that the Minister for Education, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, was seeking to impose Arabic teaching on Ghanaian students.

The Ministry stated categorically that Arabic is a language, not a religion, and therefore the teaching and learning of Arabic should not be misconstrued as the promotion or imposition of any religious belief.

According to the statement, the process to develop a standardised Arabic curriculum for teaching and learning predates the appointment of Hon. Haruna Iddrisu as Minister for Education. It began with a revision of the curriculum at the senior high school level some four years ago.

The Ministry noted that the official recognition of Arabic as part of the primary school curriculum led to the establishment of English-Arabic or Islamic schools in the country decades ago.

However, until now, the teaching and learning of Arabic in some of these schools had been without any officially approved standardised curricula, with each school implementing its own Arabic curriculum.

To address this, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), as part of its mandate, has developed a unitary and standardised official Arabic language curriculum to regulate its teaching and learning in these schools.

NaCCA’s recommendation to the Minister for the adoption of this new curriculum was meant only for schools and other public primary schools which may want to implement it in the future. The Ministry stressed that it was never intended to make the language a mandatory or compulsory subject in all public primary schools.

The statement further emphasised that the teaching of Arabic in public schools was initiated years before the current Minister assumed office and is not a personal initiative of the Hon. Minister.

The Ministry explained that there are already hundreds of Islamic schools across the country where Arabic is taught, primarily in response to the educational and linguistic needs of their communities. The development of a standardised curriculum is therefore intended to provide structure, consistency and quality assurance for the teaching and learning of the language.

The Ministry made it clear that Arabic is not a compulsory subject for Ghanaian learners generally.

The development of a standardised curriculum does not amount to making Arabic compulsory for non-Muslim students, nor does it constitute an attempt to impose any religion on Ghanaian learners.

It added that just like French or any other foreign language, Arabic remains an optional subject in public schools.

The Ministry urged the public, media practitioners and all stakeholders to verify information from authoritative sources before drawing conclusions or circulating claims that may unnecessarily create fear, misunderstanding or religious tension.

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