Children engaged in a reading activity
The Rebecca Foundation chaired by the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has launched a national reading campaign to improve reading and learning among children.
The initiative is to help address the low literacy skills in the country by encouraging children to learn to read as well as read to learn.
Addressing schoolchildren and stakeholders at the launch of the initiative held at the Osu Presbyterian Church Hall in Accra yesterday, Mrs. Akufo-Addo said there was no doubt that literacy is a fundamental human right.
She said having the skills to communicate, read, and write is vital for social and economic development. According to her, a people with high literacy skills help a country to develop and meet its challenges.
“Highly literate populations and communities are in a far better position to develop and innovate than less literate societies,” she opined.
However, the chairperson of the Rebecca Foundation noted that the country still has a significant number of its children including those in school who are unable to read although the social and economic cost of illiteracy is huge.
“This is simply unacceptable. Its consequences for our development are simply unimaginable. As a people, we need to encourage the culture of reading. We need to start with our children and we need to start now,” she urged.
“Literacy is so important to our national development. We need to all come together to support our nation. I call on all of us, educators, government, parents, non-governmental organizations, school administrators and owners to support the agenda to improve literacy in our children,” she added.
The First Lady said the Rebecca Foundation remained committed to the vision of a better literate society as it is of the strong belief that Ghana can become a very literate society starting with children.
Reading TV Programme
Mrs Akufo-Addo also announced the commencement of the ‘Learning to Read, Reading to Learn’ television programme on Saturday, 27th October, 2018, on GTV.
She said the weekly engaging, interactive reading television programme would help children learn words and lessons from the stories read.
The programme is also aimed at exposing children to Ghanaian writers and gives these hard-working writers the exposure they deserve.
“This is for you children; read a book each day. Learn new words, learn new things. Start reading,” she encouraged the children.
Madam Catherine Appiah-Pinkrah, Director of Pre-Tertiary Education Representing the Minister of Education who lauded the initiative said government’s vision for the educational sector is that every child in Ghana should be able to posses four key skills namely reading, writing, arithmetic and critical thinking skills.
She was therefore delighted that the ‘Learning to Read, Reading to Learn’ initiative had been introduced to augment the efforts of the school system.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri