The Registrar, Ghana Scholarships Secretariat, Dr Kingsley Agyemang, has urged the media to develop programmes that inculcate the habit of reading in school children.
According to him, everyone, including the media, had a role to play in developing the reading ability of Ghanaian children, following the results of the National Standardised Test, but the media had a huge platform to help.
“We, as vision bearers, we are playing our role; educators have their role to play, and administrators, teachers, have their role to play. Parents and everybody in the social value chain have a role to play, including you, the media. You have to come out with educational programmes that will encourage reading more,” he stated.
The Registrar said this on Saturday, December 9, 2023, in Kyebi, Abuakwa South Municipality, during the finals of the Kingsley Readathon Challenge, a reading competition he has introduced to inculcate the habit of reading at the basic school levels.
Addressing the media after the programme, he observed that the contestants did well, and the performance justified the importance of the reading contest as a means of addressing the outcome of the National Standardised Test.
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According to him, “there is a lot of work to be done at the basic levels to get the children to read,” and he called on all to support the course in that regard.
On the way forward , Dr Kingsley Agyemang told the media that his interventions in the municipality were not just for the cameras but had come to stay as a way of grooming the children to develop the habit of reading.
He indicated that all of his activities, including the Kingsley Maths and Science quiz, the Kingsley Spelling Challenge, and the Mentorship Programme for senior high schools, “will continue unabated.”
He urged people with power and influence to use it to empower others to ensure a harmonised society, stating that it was possible together and that tomorrow belonged to all.
Three schools, each from Basic Two and Three, took part in the final contest. At the end of the three rounds for each set, Kibi Municipal Assembly Experimental won the Basic Two contest, and Kibi Ebenezer Presbyterian won the Basic Three.
Both winners had a cash prize of GH₡1,000 each, but the first and second runner-ups had less, though all three contestants for each set had tablets, and their schools got money and certificates.
The Basic Two contest was between Kibi Municipal Assembly Experimental, AkosuaAgyeiwaa Methodist, and Asiakwa Presbyterian Primary.
The Basic Three contest was between Kibi Presbyterian Presby, Kibi Municipal Assembly Experimental, and Kibi Presbyterian College of Education Demonstration.
The nature of the contest was that 20 schools were selected to participate in the reading challenge. Out of the 20, 12 of the schools were from the Kingsley Spelling Challenge, and eight were selected randomly by the Municipal Education Directorate in Abuakwa South.
Some 15 sets of reading material were given to the participating schools, and they were tested on word spelling, reading, comprehension, character description, and word formation.
The Municipal Director of Education, Mrs. Comfort Ofori Appiah, addressing the media, said that as an educational directorate, they were happy with the contest, stressing that “now their level of reading has improved as we witnessed today.”
She said that the district teacher support team, after the launch of the contest, went around to train and observe how the pupils were being prepared. That action, she opined, culminated in the improved reading skill witnessed in the finale.
She urged teachers and heads of schools in the municipality that took part in the contest from the preliminary stages to not see the reading challenge as just an event. She urged them to find time to continue the reading contest in their schools to develop the habit of the pupils.
