The Education Directorate of the Prestea Huni Valley Municipal Assembly on 29th June 2022 organized its second Reading Festival at the Pentecost Church in Bogoso, the Municipal’s capital.
The festival which was organized in all the districts was held to select potential representatives for the regional stage of the competition. Competitors were selected from five zones in the Municipality namely, Aboso A&B, Huni Valley/Damang, Beppo/Himan, Awodua and Insu, to participate in the contest after going through various stages of the competition.
The six activities for the contest included spelling Bee, Word formation, Reading, Mother and Child, pick and act, all in English, Fante and Twi, Chants/Dialogue and songs.
The Prestea Huni Valley Director of Education, Mr. Sabastian Akyerema Diaw, in his address, expressed gratitude to all participants for attending the programme and charged all teachers and other stakeholders to encourage the learners to read.
Representing the Regional Director, Madam Christina Andoh Ackon, also encouraged all the participants to imbibe a culture of reading to help acquire more knowledge.
At the end of contest, Himan/Beppo placed (1st) first with 102 points while Aboso A&B and Huni Valley/Damang had 101.5points and 84 points respectively, representing the second (2nd) and third (3rd) positions. Awodua placed fourth (4th) with 80 points while Insu had 37 thereby placing them in the fifth (5th) position. Every participant received an award from the directorate.
Background
The Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service in partnership with USAID (United States Agency for International Development) launched a programme dubbed ‘‘Transition to English’’ in September,2021 to teach learners in basic 1-3 how to read. It was implemented in non GALOP (Ghana Accountability for learning for learning outcomes Project) schools which were twenty in number. The ability of learners at that level to read, write and communicate in both English and Ghanaian languages plays a key role in their total development and learning efficiency.
The competition is organized to help evaluate the impact of the programme on the learners.