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07.02.2012 Education

Reading Competition Launched In Keta

07.02.2012 LISTEN
By : Timothy Gobah - Daily Graphic

Sports Minister, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Anlo, Mr Kofi Humado has launched a reading competition for public basic schools in the Keta municipality with a call on stakeholders to help arrest the falling standard of education in the area.

The reading competition organised by AMIKI Club, a social club, in collaboration with the Keta Municipal Directorate of Education, and with support from some citizens and friends of the municipality, will become an annual affair.

The first one which will be held this academic year is a pilot project and will be carried out in selected schools from seven circuits of the directorate.

Selected pupils from various schools, teachers, headteachers, retired educationists, assembl members, heads of senior high schools, and parents attended the launch which was held at the Zion College at Anloga.

The Chairman for the occasion, Mrs Kafui Fiakpornu, a retired regional director of education, called on parents to be more concerned about the welfare of their children and buy books for them in order to build on their vocabularly.

She encouraged teachers to pep up their efforts to help the pupils under their care since their contribution was very crucial to the future of the children.

Mr Humado, expressed the hope that the competition would help to bring out the best in the pupils. He said it would not only help them to pass their examinations but would also enable them to read and write well since globally, reading and writing were very essential.

He presented 20 laptops to the Azanu Central LA School, for recording 100 percent in the Basic Education Certificate Examination for two consecutive years, 2010 and 2011, and being the second best school in the Keta Municipality, even though it is located in a deprived area.

He called on the other schools to emulate the benefiaciary school so that they could also be rewarded for excellence.

Mr Humado and Mr Lassey-Agbenyefia (MP for Keta) also promised to undertake regular eye-screening exercises for pupils since it has been found out that sometimes undetected eye problems could be the cause of poor performance by pupils, because they could not read or see properly.

The Keta Municipal Director of Education, Mr Edmund Gbetodeme, who together with the headteacher of Azanu Central LA received the laptops on behalf of the school, thanked the minister for his support .

They promised to put the laptops at the disposal of the pupils to improve their Information and Technology (IT) skills.

Mr John Gemegah, Vice-President of AMIKI Club, organisers of the Reading Competition, thanked all present for their concern for the children and added that this gesture was AMIKI Club’s contribution to improving educational standard in the municipality.

He encouraged parents not to spend their money only on expensive toys and clothes for their children but also on books. Teachers, as guides of the pupils, he said should strive to offer their best in order to save their pupils from being school dropouts.

Cash and book prizes will be awarded to the participating schools and pupils in addition to a trophy to be competed for annually.

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