GIL admits 650 students

The Director of the Ghana Institute of Languages (GIL) has called upon the government to vote some seed money towards the completion of the Accra Campus of the institute. According to Mr. Christopher Angkosaala, the project would enable the institute to have a permanent structure and quadruple the intake of applicants. Addressing students on Thursday during the school's 8th Matriculation, he also appealed to the government to amend the law, NLCD 324 of 1969, which governs the school, since it had now become obsolete due to the growth and dynamics of the institute. "The promulgation of a new Act would translate into better and adequate salary structure and conditions of service for staff, thus reducing constraints in promoting a collegial environment and retaining qualified human resources," he explained. Mr Angkosaala said due to infrastructural constraints, only 650 applicants were able to secure admission adding that the institute was the only one in sub-Saharan Africa where people could enrol to read a language(s) from the beginner to the tertiary levels. "The institute has become a centre for the promotion of understanding and international co-operation through breaking language and cultural barriers," he said. Mr Angkosaala praised government for the one-storey classroom block of the Tamale Campus of the Institute, which was near completion and cited French, Spanish, German and Arabic as the languages which the school offer. He urged the students to take their studies seriously, use their time judiciously, desist from bad behaviour and avoid the use of jargons since it could corrupt the language(s) they might be learning. Mr Edward Erasmus Mateku, who was the chairman for the occasion, praised Dr. Kwame Nkrumah for establishing the school in 1961 to bridge the gap of languages. He appealed to the government to provide the needed resources of the school so that it could deliver effectively for the country and Africa. Ms Micah Aba Abokomah, who spoke on behalf of the matriculants, pledged that the students would behave well and take their lessons seriously.