This, he said, when done would not only help students especially those at the basic level to enhance their academics and understanding of their world but would also promote their reading abilities.

DrAttefuah made the call at the launch of the second phase of the ‘Community Digital Literacy Project’ by the Vivo Energy Ghana on Saturday in Tamale.

“Children must work alright, but they must have ample time to spend and practice their reading at home, a child who can read can progress, can go to the higher height of education,” he said

The Community Digital Literacy Project is implemented by VIVO Energy, Ghana owner of Shell Energy, a leading marketing company in petroleum products in Ghana.

The first phase of the project was launched in September 2021 to provide access to relevant educational content, boost the reading skills of school children and help alleviate learning losses caused by school closures during the peak 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 the World Reader.

The Northern Regional GES director lauded the outcomes of the Community Digital Literacy Project and expressed gratitude to VIVO Energy Ghana and its implementing partners for their support of the development of education in the region.

In an address on behalf of the Managing Director of Vivo Energy Ghana,Mr Kader Maiga,  the Corporate Communications Manager Mrs Shirley Tony Kum, said since the inception of the project, a total of 4, 900 books have been read completely by beneficiary children with the overall number of 11, 300 books being opened

She noted that the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the weaknesses of the nation’s education system, therefore the need to integrate technology into the existing curriculum to enable students and teachers to learn during such pandemics

MrsKum indicated that phase one of the projects benefited 25 households within the Tamale Metropolis with each household being assigned a BookSmart Tablet containing an unlimited number of Ghana Education Service-approved reading books for children of school-going age.

“Today, I am pleased to announce the presentation of ten additional reading tablets to the library to enrol more pupils in the second phase of the program,” she said

“Phase two will be an outreach in schools with the support of the Mobile Library Can proudly be fueled by Shell FuelSave and a Lending Option where heads of schools can request for the tablets to be used for a period and returned to the library for use by other schools” she added

The Northern Regional Director of the Ghana Library Authority Mr Aaron Kuwornu, in his submissions, also called on parents to encourage their children to visit the library where they could have ample time to spend with their books

He also said the Library Authority was evolving from the traditional way of doing things to integrating technology to enable people who visit them to have access to unlimited books and their preferred authors to read.

On his part, the programme’s Manager at the World Reader, MrAlhassan Abdul-Kahad, said the benefits of constant reading were numerous and urged Ghanaians to take reading as a serious exercise.