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7th September, 2011
900 Girls In Upper East Sharpen Reading Skills
About 900 pupils from basic schools in Sherigu, Gowrie, Kunkua and Sumbrungu in the Upper East Region, have completed a six-week intensive training in the art of reading, at Sherigu near Bolgatanga.
It was organised by the Community Library and Reading Camp, a non-governmental organisation based at Bolgatanga, and sponsored by the Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation of the United States of America, Friends of Africa Village Library Project and the Sustainable Rural Development, all non-governmental organisations.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, Mr. Lucas Amikiya Aligre, the coordinator, indicated that the programme was initiated by Professor Michael Kevane of the Saint Clera University of California in the USA, and had been running for over three years during holiday periods.
The Community Library and Reading Camp has set up libraries in some key schools and towns where pupils are encouraged to borrow books to read, while follow-ups are made to monitor the use of the books.
Mr Aligre explained that because of proliferation of the internet cafes, most people, particularly the pupils, had resorted to patronising them at the expense of reading books.
The reading camp has prevented the pupils from engaging in negative activities in their various communities and are therefore more focused in their studies, he revealed.
Mr Bernard Akulga, a librarian, indicated that the camp had helped improve the reading culture of the pupils such that they no longer spent their time in the cafes, viewing bad films or surfing for unnecessary information.
The pupils were taken through strategies in reading, including pronunciation, identifying vowels, consonants, meaning of words and letter writing.
They also went through strategies in both silent and loud reading and encouraged to explain the contents of the books to their colleagues and the lessons to be learnt from them.
There were also reading and spelling competitions, and “all these have inspired the pupils to read on their own, and is expected that it will help arrest the falling standards of education in the region”, Mr Akulga emphasised.
Two beneficiaries, Jacob Atanga and Susanna Anafo, on behalf of their colleagues, commended the organisers and sponsors of the programme and urged that it be extended to other communities in the region.
It was organised by the Community Library and Reading Camp, a non-governmental organisation based at Bolgatanga, and sponsored by the Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation of the United States of America, Friends of Africa Village Library Project and the Sustainable Rural Development, all non-governmental organisations.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, Mr. Lucas Amikiya Aligre, the coordinator, indicated that the programme was initiated by Professor Michael Kevane of the Saint Clera University of California in the USA, and had been running for over three years during holiday periods.
The Community Library and Reading Camp has set up libraries in some key schools and towns where pupils are encouraged to borrow books to read, while follow-ups are made to monitor the use of the books.
Mr Aligre explained that because of proliferation of the internet cafes, most people, particularly the pupils, had resorted to patronising them at the expense of reading books.
The reading camp has prevented the pupils from engaging in negative activities in their various communities and are therefore more focused in their studies, he revealed.
Mr Bernard Akulga, a librarian, indicated that the camp had helped improve the reading culture of the pupils such that they no longer spent their time in the cafes, viewing bad films or surfing for unnecessary information.
The pupils were taken through strategies in reading, including pronunciation, identifying vowels, consonants, meaning of words and letter writing.
They also went through strategies in both silent and loud reading and encouraged to explain the contents of the books to their colleagues and the lessons to be learnt from them.
There were also reading and spelling competitions, and “all these have inspired the pupils to read on their own, and is expected that it will help arrest the falling standards of education in the region”, Mr Akulga emphasised.
Two beneficiaries, Jacob Atanga and Susanna Anafo, on behalf of their colleagues, commended the organisers and sponsors of the programme and urged that it be extended to other communities in the region.
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