Government must promote reading among children – Educationist

Tema- The Director of El-Shadai Preparatory School has asked government to put in more effort in promoting reading among children as a way of developing the desire to pursue education.

Mrs Patience Ankamah Addo says, I haven’t seen much input of government in terms of promoting reading to ensure that reading became a hallmark in everything we do.

She said this on Wednesday during a presentation ceremony organized by Edupro Concept Ventures to honour the overall best student in its maiden Smile Read Project at the El-Shadai Basic School, Tema Newtown.

She observed that if children started reading, it would encourage them to take education more seriously which would affect their future development.

She appreciated parents within the Tema Newtown fishing community, who against all odds, were putting in efforts to educate their children so they could live better lives.

The National Coordinator of Smile Read Project, Mrs Juliana Awo Lawson, in observing the importance of the Smile Read Project which gave room to average students to excel, said, What happens to the average and above child? They may never have the chance to feel the stage in a competition.

She said when the child went to the stage and engaged the attention of parents, the school, peers, etc., they would maintain their level of achievement which would force them to learn more.

She observed that some children did not know what was in them until they were explored, and therefore the need to give chance to as many children as possible to take part in such competitions to prevent the same few faces from always showing.

Mrs Lawson appealed to corporate Ghana, politicians, religious organizations, individuals, etc. to come to the aid of Edupro Ventures to help them reach as many children as possible.

She said, It’s amazing how people always give sponsorship to only people they know. But they should also think about community involvement; people at the grass roots who are doing things like this. We are not just looking at the international schools that are already established, but those in the suburbs that haven’t been reached yet.

She informed that the Tema Newtown area had the highest number of teenage pregnancy cases, adding that, that means there is a certain level of lack of understanding, and we want to bridge this gap.

Mr Ebenezer Mensah, a teacher of the El-Shadai Preparatory School and Internal Coordinator of the Smile Spell Project at the El-Shadai Preparatory School, lamented how some parents allowed their wards to watch television when they were supposed to read their books.

He believed that such practices, if checked could help children to spend more time with their books instead of becoming addicted to television.

Edupro Ventures Enterprise is a not-for-profit organization that promotes education through co-curricular activities such as hard spell, smile read, etc.

This year’s pilot Smile Read Project, which was organized in Tema, saw Master Solomon Tetteh of the El-Shadai Preparatory School, Tema Newtown, emerging as the winner, and was presented with a cash price of a thousand Ghana Cedis.

Source: Ghana News Agency