Anglican Priest Sues Ghana Education Service Over Ga and Dangme Language Teaching

• Rev'd Fr. Nii Omanye Boni-Lamptey filed a Supreme Court action challenging the State's handling of Ga and Dangme language education
• The suit names the Ghana Education Service, the Ga Traditional Council and the Attorney-General as defendants
• The plaintiff argues that the State has shown it can support foreign-language programmes while indigenous Ghanaian languages face neglect

An Anglican priest and legal practitioner, Rev'd Fr. Nii Omanye Boni-Lamptey, has filed a case at Ghana's Supreme Court arguing that the State has failed to meet its constitutional duty to protect and develop the Ga and Dangme languages within the country's formal education system.

The action, initiated under Articles 2(1) and 130(1)(a) of the 1992 Constitution, lists the Ghana Education Service, the Ga Traditional Council and the Attorney-General as defendants.

The Law Platform reported that the plaintiff is asking the Court to determine whether the State's educational policies, teacher deployment practices and resource allocation satisfy its constitutional obligations regarding Ghanaian languages.

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At the heart of the case is Article 39(3) of the 1992 Constitution, which states that "the State shall foster the development of Ghanaian languages and pride in Ghanaian culture." The plaintiff contends that the word "shall" imposes a binding constitutional command rather than a discretionary policy goal, and that the obligation to "foster" requires the State to actively create conditions that sustain these languages in practice.

The plaintiff asks the Court to read Article 39(3) alongside several other provisions, including Articles 17, 21(1)(a), 25(1), 26(1), 34(1), 35(3), 38(1) and 39(1), which collectively address equality, freedom of expression, educational access and cultural participation.

Teacher Shortages and Misdeployment

A central strand of the case concerns the availability and posting of trained Ga and Dangme teachers in schools across the Greater Accra Region.

The plaintiff references a 2021 intervention by Nii Bortey Kofi Frankwa II, the Oyibi Gonten Mantse and Regent of the Nungua Mankralo Stool, who urged the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to ensure Ga was taught in basic schools within the region.

The plaintiff also cites a 2023 statement by the Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, who called on the Government and the Ministry of Education to enforce Ga teaching in basic schools and raised concerns about trained Ga graduates being posted outside Greater Accra.

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A September 2025 statement by the Ga Mantse further called for the compulsory teaching of Ga and Dangme in relevant communities, with dedicated teacher recruitment, textbooks and learning materials.

The plaintiff additionally points to a 2024 warning from the Ghana Institute of Languages that Ga and other Ghanaian languages faced serious decline due to insufficient teacher availability and inadequate revitalisation efforts in schools.

Comparison With Foreign-Language Programmes

A notable element of the case involves the plaintiff's comparison of the State's treatment of Ga and Dangme with its support for Chinese and Arabic language programmes.

He argues that the State has demonstrated the administrative capacity to mobilise institutions, develop curricula and deploy teachers when a language is deemed strategically important, and that this capacity is relevant in assessing whether equivalent efforts have been made for constitutionally protected indigenous languages.

Among the reliefs sought, the plaintiff is asking the Supreme Court to declare that the State's failure to effectively deploy teachers and implement compulsory Ga and Dangme instruction in basic schools constitutes a constitutional violation, and to order the relevant institutions to establish a mandatory, funded and enforceable region-wide framework for teaching both languages.

Source: YEN.com.gh