Dr. Peter Attefuah, Director, NR GES (in black African wear) Mrs. Shirly Tony Kum, Corporate Communications Manager, Vivo Ghana and Mr. Aaron Kuwornu, Director, GLA, Tamale (in yellow as a robe) and Alhaji Alhassan Isahaku, Chief Director, Northern Regional Coordinating Council (Smock with white stripes)
The Northern Regional Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr. Peter Attefuah, urged parents to allow their children some time to study books while at home.
He said doing this will not only help students, especially those at the elementary level, improve their academics and understanding of their world, but also boost their reading skills.
Dr Attefuah made the call at the launch of the second phase of the “Community Digital Literacy Project” by Vivo Energy Ghans on Saturday July 16, 2022 in Tamale.
"Kids have to work well, but they have to have enough time to spend and practice their reading at home, a kid who can read can progress, can go to a higher level of education," he said.
The Community Digital Literacy Project is implemented by VIVO Ghana Energy, the owner of Shell Energy, the leading petroleum product marketing company in Ghana.
The first phase of the project was launched in September 2021 to ensure access to relevant educational content, improve the reading skills of school children and help mitigate learning losses caused by school closures during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but ended in June 2022.
It is being implemented by VIVO Energy Ghana in collaboration with the Ghana Library Authority and World Reader.
The Director of the Northern Regional GES commended the results of the Community Digital Literacy Project and expressed gratitude to VIVO Energy Ghana and its implementing partners for their support in the development of education in the region.
He also pledged the education directorate's support for the smooth running of the second phase of the project, which aims to support schools in improving students' reading skills.
Speaking on behalf of Vivo Energy Ghana Managing Director Mr Kader Maiga, Corporate Communications Manager Mrs Shirley Tony Kum said a total of 4,900 books have been read by underprivileged children with a total of 11,300 books opened since the project started.
She noted that the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed weaknesses in the nation's education system, hence the need to integrate technology into existing curricula to enable students and teachers to learn during such pandemics.
She said the first phase of the project benefited 25 households in the Tamale metropolis, with each household being allocated a BookSmart Tablet containing unlimited reading books approved by the Ghana Education Service for school-aged children.
“Today I am delighted to announce the introduction of ten more reading tablets to the library so that we can enroll more pupils in the second phase of the programme.
"The second phase will be education in schools with the support of the mobile library. It can be proudly supported by the Shell FuelSave program and loan facility where school principals can request that the tablets be used for a period of time and returned to the library for use by another school,” she added.
Ms. Shirley noted that Shell, as a leading marketing company in the petroleum industry, is committed to investing in the areas it operates in order to support the growth and development of those areas, particularly in achieving SDG 4.
In his comments, the Regional Director of the Ghana Library Authority for the Northern Region, Mr. Aaron Kuwornu, also urged parents to encourage their children to visit the library where they can have enough time to spend with their books.
He also said that the Library Authority is evolving from the traditional way of doing things to integrate technology to give people who visit them access to an unlimited number of books and to read their preferred authors.
The Program Manager at World Reader, Mr. Alhassan Abdul-Kahad, said the benefits of constant reading are numerous and urged Ghanaians to take reading as a serious exercise.
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