‘Inculcate reading habit in children’
The Ashanti Regional Director of Education, Mr Kofi Sarfo Kantanka, has observed that the lack of interest of pupils in reading was affecting their capability to read and understand what they read.
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He has, therefore, urged parents, teachers and other stakeholders in education to help inculcate good reading habit in their children to enhance their education.
He explained that when children were able to read fluently, they were not only able to deepen their knowledge of other subjects but also help improve upon their writing skills as well.
“There is the need for all stakeholders in education to ensure that reading materials and facilities are made available to enhance fluent reading by all pupils and students, irrespective of where they are located,” he said.
Mr Kantanka made the call in an address read on his behalf by Mrs Irene Botwe, Head of Human Resource at the Ashanti Regional Directorate of Education, at a ceremony during which eight different sets of books were presented to some selected schools which took part in a reading contest in the Kumasi Metropolis.
The beneficiary schools were Adum Presby Primary and JHS, K. O Methodist Cluster of Schools, and Bantama Methodist Primary and JHS.
The ceremony, christened ‘Speaking Event of the Annual Burt Award for African Literature’, was organised by the Ghana Book Trust (GBT) and sponsored by CODE, a Canadian non-governmental organisation, in partnership with William Burt and the Library Prizes Foundation.
The Burt Award for African Literature
The Burt Award for African Literature is a literary prize that recognises excellence in young adult fiction by authors from Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya.
The award addresses an ongoing shortage of relevant and quality books for young people in Africa, while promoting a love for reading and learning.
The Executive Director of GBT, Mrs Genevieve Eba-Polley, in her welcome address, commended CODE, William Burt, Literary Prizes Foundation and others for their support towards the development of reading and writing skills in Ghana and other parts of the world.
She challenged the various beneficiaries of such awards to utilise the books and take good care of them to make them last.
The Ashanti Regional Librarian, Mrs Rebecca Akita, pledged to support the activities of all stakeholders in the region and the country to ensure that reading and learning was enhanced.
She lamented the current situation where extra-classes in schools engaged the children and prevented them from finding enough time to read different books apart from their course books, and called for measures to be put in place to arrest the problem.