Dr Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, Lecturer, Department of
Publishing Studies at the Kwame Nkrumah University or Science and Technology on Tuesday, urged parents to introduce their children to reading from birth to eight years.
He explained that the period was basically the child's vital formative years and the most important period for literacy development.
"This can be achieved by reading to the child, giving him books to read and play with. We should not bother if they tear them, but guide and explain to them to handle the books well to protect their life span," he added.
Dr Opoku-Amankwa made the appeal at the launch of the Ninth Ghana International Book Fair in Accra.
Giving an exposition on the theme for the fair, "Child Literacy, the Foundation for Future Development-a Reading Nation is a Winning Nation" he said literacy was crucial to personal and cultural growth, enlightenment as well as individual occupational fulfillment.
The five-day fair scheduled for November 2-6 this year, would take place at the Ghana International Trade Fair Centre in Accra.
It is being organised by Ghana Book Publishers Association (GBPA) and other partners.
Dr Opoku-Amankwa said "literacy is needed for survival, learning and citizenship, personal pleasure and creativity as well as for employment,
community development and political empowerment".
He said children, therefore, needed regular and active interactions with books, which played very significant role in the process of literacy
development, adding, "As children interacted with books they acquire an enormous amount of topical knowledge".
Dr Opoku-Amankwa indicated that good teachers combined with access to good books could improve the quality of education.
He stressed the need for Ghana to have a clear consistent policy on language and literacy development since her language and literacy policies tended to fluctuate at the insistence of development partners which was not ideal.
Dr Opoku-Amankwa observed that, apart from confusing teachers and pupils, constant changes in the language and literacy policy tended to put a strain on the country's 'toddling' book publishing industry and indirectly gave advantage to multinational publishers to control the market.
He called for tax incentives for the book industry to make it easy for local publishers to flood schools, homes and bookshops with quality yet cheaply priced books.
Dr Opoku-Amankwa suggested the establishment of more bookshops and book distribution outlets all over the country to make books readily available to schools and pupils.
Mr Asare Konadu Yamoah, President of GBPA, expressed worry at the decline of support for the fair by the Ministry of Education and the Ghana
Book Development Council.
He, therefore, appealed to them to reconsider their positions and make efforts to support the fair and other related book industry activities.
Mr Yamoah noted that child literacy continued to be a challenge in Africa with Ghana witnessing the declining quality of education and culture, therefore, the need to take advantage of every opportunity to remind everyone of the task and the need to develop appropriate strategies to
change the situation.