The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is demanding an account of public resources used to develop and prepare for the implementation of Arabic and Chinese curricula despite President John Dramani Mahama’s claim that no new policy had been approved.
The party’s Education Sector Policy Committee says the process involved curriculum writers, reviewers, technical personnel, administrative work and teacher training, all of which required resources.
According to the NPP, about 160 writers and reviewers were engaged by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) over several months to produce a revised curriculum that included Arabic and Chinese among the foreign-language options.
The revised curriculum was presented to Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu on July 22, 2026. The party says the Minister subsequently referred it to the Ghana Education Service and directed it to prepare for full implementation.
The NPP also pointed to a September 3 teacher-training exercise organised by NaCCA with support from the Confucius Institute at the University of Cape Coast to prepare teachers to implement the new Chinese language curriculum.
The party is therefore questioning why these activities were undertaken if, as President Mahama later stated, there was “absolutely no new policy”.
“If there was ‘absolutely no new policy’, why were public resources committed to developing the curricula, preparing the system for implementation and training teachers?” the NPP asked.
It wants the government to explain what taxpayers’ money was used for and who authorised the expenditure.
The party says the issue goes beyond the debate over whether Arabic and Chinese should be taught in schools, arguing that government must account for resources committed to a policy process that had already advanced through curriculum development and teacher preparation.
The NPP is calling for clarity on the expenditure and the authority under which the work was undertaken.
