The Second Lady, Mrs Samira Bawumia who spent time reading with some pupils from selected schools in Accra to mark World Book Day has reiterated the need for parents and teachers to instill the culture of reading in pupils especially at the lower primary, so as to help them cultivate reading habits.
The activity, which was organised by her non-profit organisation, The Samira Empowerment & Humanitarian Projects (SEHP), was held under the theme ‘Reading: It’s my Right’.
Mrs Bawumia in an interview said one of the key focus areas of her organisation was education and literacy skills, and it was important for them to mark the day with their first books and reading project.
She said: “The goal of this event is to present reading as a fun and interesting activity to children such that it becomes a habit chosen by them and not forced on them. Raising public awareness on the importance of reading, as well as acknowledging Ghanaian writers within the industry are some of the goals we hope to achieve through the event.”
She mentioned that her organisation has been supporting libraries with books through a project they call ‘Books and Libraries’, adding that as part of the project, they donate books in secured boxes to schools that do not have libraries of their own, in addition to refurbishing some libraries for some schools.
Mrs Samira Bawumia also averred that most of the schools they donate to were government schools that were usually less stocked in terms of books.
“Today fits into what we focus on as an NGO so we decided to bring kids into a fun environment, introduce them to the love of books and so we brought some Ghanaian writers to read to them and inspire them. Because we wanted diversity, the pupils, from class one to six, were picked from schools at Weija, La, Legon, and from Roman Ridge,” she said and added that in order not to just leave the books in the schools, her organisation was putting together a list of volunteers who would go around schools to read to the pupils.
“Reading opens our eyes to the world, and I want every child to experience the joy in knowing that there is something possible and bigger than what they see with their eyes. When you read, you get knowledge, awareness, your consciousness expands and you know that the world is bigger than your immediate environment.”
Members of the Ghana Writers Association read to the about 150 pupils who participated in the event. The event was however characterized by funfair.
By: PROSPER AGBENYEGA