Parents urged to collaborate with teachers to develop the reading abilities of pupils

Tema, Aug. 11, CDA Consult – Mrs. Bernice Ofori, Tema Metropolitan Education Director, has called on parents and guardians to collaborate with teachers and school administrators to develop the reading skills of their children.

Mrs. Ofori, therefore, charged parents to buy reading materials for their children, adding however that those who could not do so due to financial challenges could encourage their wards to make use of library facilities in their schools and communities to read and learn.

She said the need for children to adopt reading skills was very important as learning how to read was a necessity and straightforward, adding however that even though some children found reading easy there was still the need to practice as oral language was the solid foundation on which literacy was built.

Mrs. Ofori made the admonition at the opening of the 2022 Tema Metropolitan Education Directorate reading festivals for lower primary pupils in Tema, which was monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult).

She also stated that it was important for teachers and educators to ensure that learners received help at the right stage of life to learn how to read and write through continuous development for it to have a positive effect on their academics and self-esteem.

The Tema Metro Education Director said the first years of schooling were designed for children to learn reading through their phonetic awareness skills comprising of alphabetic code, and memorization of basic sight words, among others.

She noted that books were the best friends of children reiterating that pupils must be encouraged to cultivate the habit of reading and learning as the more they read, the more things they would know.

At the end of the festival Arch Bishop Andoh Basic School was adjudged the winner after getting total points of 177.5 from three rounds of reading sessions, while St. Peter Roman Catholic Basic had a total of 115.5 points to emerge second, and Manhean SDA Primary placed third with 111 points.

The winners and participants received certificates of participation and various reading materials for their outstanding performance.

The reading festival is a nationwide initiative by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with USAID and fhi360. The 2022 festival is on the theme: “Learn to Read, Read to Learn.”

It is designed to stimulate interest in reading books and help promote a reading culture through the reading of short stories, answering comprehension questions, and spelling competitions, among others.