Kingsley Agyemang interacting with some of the kids
The Kibi Ebenezer Presbyterian Basic School last Saturday won the 2023 Readathon Challenge competition with 31.5 points.
The competition was organised by the Registrar of the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat, Dr. Kingsley Agyemang, and aimed at improving the reading abilities of pupils in the Abuakwa South Municipality of the Eastern Region.
The KPCE Demonstration Basic School and Kibi M/A Experimental also bagged the second and third positions with 30.5 and 29 points respectively, at the final contest which was held at the Akufo-Addo Auditorium of the Kibi Presbyterian College of Education.
The ‘Readathon Challenge’ competition is the first reading competition for pupils in lower primary schools in the municipality.
Dr. Kingsley Agyemang, an aspiring parliamentary hopeful of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for Abuakwa South, at the end of the contest presented some prizes and packages to the winners and their schools.
In this year’s edition, 20 primary schools in the municipality were selected and given 15 sets of books for the pupils to read and after six weeks, those selected from their schools were tested in reading proficiency and proficiency in word spelling, comprehension, character description, and building.
Five pupils were represented in each school and those who made it to the finals were to each receive an electronic tablet loaded with approved reading materials and cash prizes for their schools and the teachers.
At the end of the contest, he explained that because the number of those who could read had increased from two per cent to 38 per cent, it required urgent attention, hence the decision to supply reading books and use the competition to encourage reading.
He explained that Kingsley Quizzes had Mathematics and Science Quiz for JHS schools, Spelling Challenge for upper primary pupils, Debates and Mentorship for high schools, but nothing for lower primary pupils, therefore the Readathon Challenge was to cater for the lower primary.
He said his support for the people in the area had been in the form of welfare support, education programmes, agricultural support, and social engagements.
Dr. Agyemang said the impact of the educational programme was being realised because, in the last BECE, the Education Directorate indicated that due to the interventions, “Mathematics and Science scores improved drastically in the constituency.”
The Municipal Director of Education, Gloria Aggrey-Kilson, who represented the Regional Directorate, commended Dr. Agyemang for the investments he had been making in the education of children in the area.
BY Daniel Bampoe