Promoting Quality Education Through Reading

MR. CHAIRMAN,
HON. MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, AKATSI NORTH,
HON. DISTRICT CHIEF EXECUTIVE, AKATSI NORTH,

THE DISTRICT DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, AKATSI NORTH,

TRADITIONAL AND OPINION LEADERS PRESENT,
HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS AND INSTITUTIONS,
HON. ASSEMBLY MEMBERS,
TEACHERS, PARENTS AND PUPILS,
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!
I deem it honoured to have been extended this invitation to be a part of this Day with the Management, teachers, parents, pupils and stakeholders of Anquist College Complex as it celebrates its 4^th Graduation and Speech and Prize-Giving Day.

Mr. Chairman, as some schools, especially our public ones, usually would just end an academic year with the marking of exams papers, recording results, filling terminal report cards and giving them to pupils to send to their parents at home, the Anquist College, for four consecutive years, I am told, has celebrated this day in a grand style.

I think your school deserves commendation for this initiative and our prayer is that you triumph over all challenges that may want to destroy the continuity of this novelty.

If the school would have to continue to do well and in the best interest of the society then there is always the need for effective collaboration of all stakeholders in the process of education service delivery to students.

It is for this reason that, Mr. Chairman, I feel this gathering’s theme, “Promoting Quality Education through Reading” is not just appropriate but also timely considering the rate at which all of us are complaining about the falling standards of education and reading among our pupils and students.

It takes the effort of all of us to produce students who would not just be ‘parrots’ in reading but with good analytic and comprehension skills as well.

A good reader, Mr. Chairman, ought to be a good writer but that cannot be done easily by the teacher alone. It needs the support of all, including those of us here today.

Let me at this point urge schools to try and put up their own libraries with good books and materials for pupils to be reading all the time.

Parents should also buy books that have been recommended by the Curriculum Research and Development Division (CRDD) of the Ghana Education Service (GES) for enhanced education and training.

As the GES strives to equip schools with requisite logistics, such as books for pupils to read, communities and corporate bodies should also try to lend more support by instituting community libraries and library vans for students to use even during holidays and vacations.

If the saying that a reading nation is a leading nation is anything to go by then we must re-double our efforts at supporting and motivating children to read well so as to make them good future leaders.

It is, however, disheartening to see how children and young adults of today have allowed themselves to be influenced negatively by the ‘new media’, which is popularly referred to as the social media.

Instead of using the social media, such as the Face book, Whats App and twitter for proper educational pursuits and research, a huge chunk of children and youth think the best way to go is to use them for pornography, internet fraud and hacking of people’s vital data.

Why should attendance at wake-keeping and funerals be a treasure to pupils and students nowadays?

I support any proposal for bye-laws to be enacted to prevent pupils and young adults from getting access to funeral and durbar grounds at odd hours.

Who says staying at home, Mr. Chairman, and going through a few lines of words from a good book is not much more profitable than what these children would gain from loitering about in the night with peers and others?

As teachers regularly assess students on reading and comprehension in school, parents should also monitor and guide their wards to do their assignments on reading and comprehension at home regardless of whether the parent can read or not.

A smart parent, Mr. Chairman, easily detects a child as a good performer in reading from the tone and frequency of the child’s voice while reading.

Children become honoured and happy if they see that their parents, guardians and families have a strong interest in their education and welfare.

The passion for and excellence in reading can, therefore, be achieved if parents always provide basic necessities of life, including good food, clothing, shelter and health to their wards.

Pupils, Mr. Chairman, would attempt to indulge in illicit sexual exploits for any possible support if we fail to provide for them as parents and guardians.

As we get them good the books to read, let us also listen to their concerns and intervene for them at all times for good performance.

Thank you for your attention and may God continue to be with us as we help the Ghanaian child to read and write well!

You contact Mr. Amoah on +233 (0) 246-476-171/[email protected]