According to her, even if parents could not read, it behooves on them to encourage their children to read aloud to the hearing of a third party.

Mrs Tassa was speaking at the first ever Municipal reading festival for children in Basic 1 to 3 in Ghanaian and English Languages in Accra over the weekend.

It was held under the theme “Learn to Read, Read to Learn.”

Participating teams included Flagstaff House Basic, St. Kizito Roman Catholic Basic, Kanda Estate Basic and Alwaleed Comprehensive Basic.

The programme, she said, was an initiative of the Ghana Education Service in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) partnership for education learning and Ghana Library Authority (GLA).

The Acting Greater Accra Regional Director of the GLA, Mr Edward Addo-Yobo, said studies conducted on early grade level reading of children in Ghana indicate that the majority of learners at primary level perform poorly in reading.

He identified some factors that accounted for poor reading as inadequate training of teachers in developing literacy among learners and insufficient reading materials.

The mandate of the GLA, he said, was to establish, equip, manage and maintain public libraries in the country, adding that the vision was to connect Ghanaians to learning resources.

The Municipal Chief Executive for Ayawaso East, Hajia Salma Sani Mohammed Adams Kuta, said reading enriches and expands our vocabulary and develops the skill of concentration whilst providing us with pure enjoyment and sheer pleasure.

“It must be noted that reading exposes our mind to different cultures and languages of the world,” she said.

The MCE urged teachers and parents to support children in their reading capabilities whilst further admonishing parents to invest in books for children to read and expose them to libraries.

The Member of Parliament for Ayawaso East, Mr Nasser Toure Mahama, commended the organisers for the initiative, saying it would form a firm foundation for children and broaden their horizon as they ascend the academic ladder.

He said the existence of untrained teachers was negatively impacting pupils in the area as most of them could not read and write.

For their awards, Kanda Estate emerged overall winners and they received a trophy while all the four schools received certificate of participation. 

The winners will represent the municipality at the regional reading festival.