New Curriculum ; Entrepreneurial skill and Reading

A great number of people including the western world have identified reading as the best means for scholars to succeed in their academic pursuit. It was then around 17th century when most academicians started making a considerable progress in that respect. For now, there is a need for Ghanaians to take a second look at ‘reading’ as a 21st century revolution, make it more competitive in our schools, and redesign the Basic School curriculum to effectively meet the international content standard of entrepreneurship education. There is no tangible reason to justify the poor performance of Basic School pupils if an effective reading, speaking and writing is not enforced

We, Ghanaians’ attitude towards reading is quite unpleasant and we need to change overnight. Reading, as it appears, is an amusing exercise every one of us ought to embrace as a social therapy. When we read, we embark on a joyful journey with the author. He takes us far away from our home, community, country and even the continent. It is one of the best exercises one could take pleasure in, daily, in order to release tension and anxiety. Reading cannot just be seen as an activity undertaken by students only, but an action to be rendered and exhibited by adults and policymakers to let children see reason.

Reading is one of the best practices for learning and it is so precious and unique. Students who read periodically have a very prestigious admittance to explore the world. They get expose to so many events through reading, either fictitious or scientific discovering. The best way to keep students and other scholars creative is through an extensive reading. When one reads books written by Americans, one has a very high possibility to travel to America spiritually. One gets to know places, people’s life style, culture and their way of thinking. One does not only get informed of other people’s culture while reading books written by them, but also acquires a broad range of knowledge which entails philosophy of existence.

Today, Ghanaians can decidedly describe Europe as though they were born and bred in Breton. A few scholars who made reading a precedence can speak and write the Queen’s English and Français parisien as though they were natives of either countries. They have no excuse to join in a public debate and explicitly express their views on specific issues in their communities just because of the confidence they have acquired through reading.

Reading is the only tool for development as far as academic pursuit is necessitated. It might not in any way be overlooked in this 21st century in Africa. Children’s abysmal performance in Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) was as a result of their inability to read and understand basic instructions. Even if a few of them understand

the questions, they are unable to answer them effectively for lack of effective reading skills.

Reading is supreme and we must handle it with care. It is the fundamental part of human’s learning process, and no one might be reluctant to promote quality education without impressing upon reading. We seem not achieving any meaningful result after the nine-year Free and Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE); as public basic school pupils could sparsely read. With the current competitive job market, it is becoming gradually impossible for even head porters, popularly known as “kayaye” to get access to services at Agbogbloshi market for lack of basic skills to read and understand simple instructions. These “kayayee” business operators found themselves wayward not for having failed to communicate in the English language, but for failing to read and understand simple instructions labelled on goods they use to carry from one location to another; and how to dispatch them to their respective destinations.

The current stark problem hindering the entrepreneurship education in Africa is not the inability of the youth to speak French or English language before being qualified to undertake an apprenticeship contract with entrepreneurs in their local community, but duly on account of their inability to read and understand simple instructions.

It is about time we propagated the importance of reading and strategized its implementation in our educational policy formulation in Ghana. Reading has enormous benefits; see why we must encourage our students to make reading a priority. A good reading habit boosts one confidence when one addresses a public gathering. You ought to become a great public speaker through extensive reading. One becomes vibrant and inimitable through constant reading.

Students are encouraged to embrace reading and promote reading culture in our communities in Ghana. The Ministry of Education in collaboration with Ghana Education Service ought to pay more attention to extensive reading programmes for basic school pupils, which the curriculum should be entailed. I believe, with this transformation, our children will now become employable even after completing basic school with a little bit of entrepreneurship skills.

Parents are not left out when it comes to the implementation of this reading crusade. Parents appear to be the cause of their children’s failure with regard to quality education. Some of them appear nonchalant to promote the importance of reading, remain aloof and leave their children in the hands of teachers. Teachers work profusely to come out with their best, but society disregards the implementation of certain policies, which, for many times, rendered their efforts unproductive. Parents should persuade their children to read before going to bed and deem it as a matter of urgency frown upon TV programmes, where children’s keen interests gear toward generally. Your child’s future is bright and you must work towards it now!