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21.10.2010 Education

Expose Children To Books

21.10.2010 LISTEN
By Solomon Otoo - Daily Graphic

The Programme Specialist of UNESCO, Mr Tirso Dos Santos, has asked parents to encourage and teach their children to read by exposing them to all kinds of books at an early stage.

This, he said, would help the country to reach the goal of education for all by 2015 and improve on the quality of education.

Mr Santos, who was speaking at the launch of “Accra Reads” an initiative by the Goethe Institute to whip up the interests of Ghanaians, especially those in the deprived communities in reading.


The project was on the theme “ Creating leaders through reading”.

He said, in modern societies, information was mostly written and, therefore, emphasised the need for all to take interest in reading.

Mr Santos pledged that UNESCO would support the project, stating that its interest in reading was also a means of promoting peace.


Under the project, the team from Goethe Institute together with other collaborators would move from community to community to educate children about the importance of reading and provide them with some reading materials.


A book titled, 'Kondua’s Arch' by Yaw Ababio Boateng is being used for the project, under which schoolchildren are expected to read and give their comments about the book.

The programme, which was held at the Nima Community Library, also provided a platform for some selected schoolchildren to listen and interact with a number of Ghanaian music stars such as Paapa Yankson and Richie Mensah.

The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Book Publishers Association, Mr Fauna Atta Frimpong, commended Goethe Institute for the project and underlined that there was no alternative to reading since it was the foundation of life and must, therefore, be taken seriously.

He called on all to support the project which has the following as partners: the Ghana Library Board, Ghana Book Publishers Association, UNESCO, Ghana Library Association, Ghana Association of Writers, Ministry of Education and Readwide Ghana among others.

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