Buy Reading books for children, Ms. Agyekwena charges parent.

 Ms. Juliana Ivy Agyekwena right, the headteacher of Abeka at left and Mr. Odonkor at second left with one of the winners.

The Abeka Circuit 23 Supervisor of education, Ms. Juliana Ivy Agyekwena has called on parent to purchase reading books for their wards to help them build a rich network of words in their mind.

According to her, the brain and the reading skills of children would be fully developed, if they could lay hands on accurate reading materials wherever they found themselves.

“Many parents neglect the duty of providing their wards with adequate reading books that can enhance reading, writing and words formation skills of children thus making it difficult for them to comprehend vocabulary since they don’t have access to quality reading books,” she said.

She made this appeal at inter-schools reading competition organised by Ghana Education Service Circuit 23 Abeka in collaboration with Infinity 970 in Accra on Monday, dubbed on “Encouraging reading among children.”

The competition which aimed at enhancing reading and improving spelling of words saw pupils from 10 schools of Abeka (St. Thomas, Answarudeen, Rene Education, St. Lawrence, God’s grace International, Babess, Pretty Peep, Hallid Bun Walid, Antah and Abeka Roman Catholic School)  competing for a price.

The primary school winners of the competition were Ellen Babanawo from Abeka R/C Basic School, Eugenia Pokuah from God’s Grace International School and Christabel Onyina from Pretty Peep School.

Other winners from the Junior High School were Daniel Ofori from God’s Grace International School, Faustina Agyei from Pretty Peep School and Carlene Afriyie from Abeka R/C School.

The beneficiaries took home reading materials, confectionaries and the participated schools received certificate of participation.

Ms. Juliana Agyekwena who was also a judge at the competition, noted that the basic challenges the pupils faced during the reading were inability to stick to rules and regulations of reading.

“Some of the rules pertaining to reading weren’t there, they were lacking some of the skills especially the eye contact, punctuations, voice modulation. The judges were more passionate about the phonetics and many pupils couldn’t sail through the competition due to how they pronounced the words,” she noted.

For pupils to pronounce words correctly, she called on teachers and instructors to teach the pupils phonetics at their early stage adding that “teachers should also ensure pupils adhere to the early bed reading rule which GES passed in ensuring pupils of Accra metropolis embrace reading as a life style.”

Speaking on the need for pupils to read, the head teacher of Abeka R/C School, Ms. Augustina Abena Kuti indicated that the art of learning starts from reading which in turn fosters understanding and promotes social development as well as thinking abilities of pupil.

She advised pupils to attach seriousness to any reading materials they get hold of since it is a gate way in completing school with flying colours.

Mr. Victor Odonkor, the programme coordinator of infinity 970, charged head teachers, teachers and parent to see the reading at the competition as an eye opener for them to know where they have to help the pupils to excel in their reading.

He also pledged the organization's outfit support to promote reading among children in Ghana.

By JOYCELINE NATALLY CUDJOE