Students of Likpakpaanl Interact with Visiting Members of the Likpakpaanl Speaking Community
On Wednesday, March 6, 2024, students of the newly rolled out Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Likpakpaanl Education programme at the Ajumako Campus of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) were privileged to receive a maiden visit by a section of members of the Likpakpaanl (Konkomba) speaking community. The occasion also served as a productive interactive forum between the visiting team and the students.
The visiting delegation comprised some Likpakpaanl speaking senior members of UEW, namely, Dr. Bernard B.B. Bingab, senior lecturer at the School of Business and Patron of Konkomba Students’ Union (KONSU), UEW, Winneba Campus; Dr. Samuel Poatob, senior lecturer in the Department of Social Studies Education and Head of Department of Quality Assurance Directorate, ITECPD, UEW; Dr. Bawa Mbage, lecturer, Department of Chemistry Education, UEW; Mr. Joshua Upoalkpajor, lecturer, Department of Counselling Psychology, UEW and Mrs. Agnes Upoalkpajor, manageress, UEW Co-operative Credit Union, Winneba Branch.
Also joining the visiting team was Rev. Joel Beddim, District Pastor, The Church of Pentecost, Enyam Abaasa District, Mankessim Area, C/R. Mr. Fusheini Abdul-Rahman, former HoD of the Department of Gur-Gonja Education also attended the programme on his behalf and doubly stood in for the current HoD, Department of Gur-Gonja Education. The event was massively attended by members of KONSU from the Winneba Campus. The gathering was chaired by Dr. Abraham Kwesi Bisilki, Patron of KONSU, Ajumako Campus, UEW.
For both the visiting team and the students, the occasion was historic in being the first of its kind since the first cohort of the BA Likpakpaanl students arrived at the Ajumako Campus some three years ago in the 2021/2022 academic year. On the part of the visiting team, the purpose of their move was to see how the students were integrating into their new academic community, find out how they are faring in their studies and ascertain what their challenges might be so that, together with other stakeholders, any such challenges could be looked into for possible re-dress.
Taking turns to address the gathering, all the senior members were unanimous in expressing gratitude to the University of Education, Winneba for granting the opportunity for the study of Likpakpaanl as a first degree programme, this being the very first time the language is seeing study in the formal educational circles. However, the most topical issue on the occasion was the fact that Likpakpaanl is yet to be mainstreamed into the Ghana Education Service school curriculum as one of the examinable Ghanaian languages in the Ghanaian educational system.
Passionate appeals were made by all present to the Ghana Education Service, the Ministry of Education, Government of Ghana and all other individuals and agencies concerned to consider including Likpakpaanl as one of the Ghanaian languages studied in schools. This will not only make products of the BA Likpakpaanl programme relevant, it will also be a new impetus to education in Likpakpaanl speaking communities as a whole, since that will be the only way to provide the much needed education in mother-tongue to the people.
The visiting team further reminded the students of the BA Likpakpaanl Education programme to see their admission into the university as a life-changing journey that is meant to equip them to be relevant to society. On that score, the students were strongly encouraged to pay utmost seriousness to their studies so they are eventually well prepared to serve society and to take their rightful place on the corridors of life
The BA Likpakpaanl programme is one of a number of most meaningful programmes of study that the University of Education, Winneba has added to its programme offer list in recent years. The primary goal of the programme is to train professionally competent teachers that will serve as Ghanaian language teachers in Likpakpaanl. This issue remains a critical educational and developmental need in the Likpakpaanl speaking communities across many parts of Ghana.
As was indicated earlier, the programme started in the 2021/2022 academic year. It currently has three student cohorts (levels 100, 200 and 300), totalling 90. 15 out of the 90 students are females, with the remaining 75 being males.
The visit/interactive event was very colourfully marked with a rich display of the great culture of the Bikpakpaam (Konkomba).
