In a bid to imbibe the culture of reading among pupils and also promote the effective and proper use of the English language in basic schools, Pencils of Promise (PoP), an educational Non-Governmental Organization has instituted a reading competition for schools in Volta region.
The maiden edition of the competition saw 12 deprived basic schools from selected districts in the region participating in the preliminary stages.
Three schools from that stage, comprising, Hohoe Presby, Adaklu Hilhave and Saviefe Deme basic schools made it to the grand finale held in Ho, where Hohoe Presby School came out champions.
The participants were drilled in a three round test in dictation, word search, and reading.
Country director of Pencils of Promise, Mr. Freeman Gobbah said the competition is aimed at curbing the declining literacy standard in basic schools and also provide a platform for pupils to interact and learn among themselves.
The NGO which has been operating since 2012, has also provided hundreds of classroom blocks and other educational materials including e-readers for deprived schools a crossed the region.
These, Mr. Gobbah noted are geared towards improving educational standards in the region.
He said the next edition of the reading competition will be expanded to include more schools.
Mr. Alexander Mawusi Buadi, the Volta regional director of Education who witnessed the event, commended PoP for the initiative and assured them of the directorate’s support in building a generation readers.
He noted that, the GES has put in measures to raise the performance of schools at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the region and was optimistic that, initiatives such the reading competition will help in achieving such a target.
