A SPEECH DELIVERED BY MR MATHIAS TULASI,CEO OF READ GHANA FOUNDATION AT THE COMMISSIONING OF LIBRARY AND COMPUTER LAB AT METRIKASA D/A BASIC SCHOOL ON FRIDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER, 2018
Mr. Chairman, Staff, Chiefs and Opinion Leaders Present, Invited Guests, Pupils, The Media, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Good afternoon to you all gathered here. I am highly delighted to be part of this very important ceremony on the Theme " Promoting Literacy and Academic Excellence Through Collaborative Efforts Of All Stakeholders” I want to first of all, congratulate the organizers of this event and all those who through diverse efforts made this dream a reality.
Ladies and gentlemen, Today’s gathering is very important because education, as we all know is the bedrock of our society. It is life itself and so therefore, as stakeholders we must all do everything possible to protect it in our various homes, communities and the country at large.
Mr. Chairman, I must admit that, the choice of theme for this ceremony is very appropriate because some stakeholders are not just helping the education system in the country.
We have all gathered here because, most of us, if not all, believe that in our world today, education is the doorway to the progress and prosperity of individuals, communities and nations.
It is indeed true that, individuals, communities and nations, that fail to give prime of place to education, and quality education for that matter, will continue to languish behind the rest of progressive humanity. It is this understanding, I want us all gathered here to share from this day forward.
A library exposes a student to one’s culture as well as makes him or her aware of other cultures, provides him/her with latest knowledge, introduces students to new literature, thoughts and ideas, intakes him or her aware of the history and geography of the near and far areas.
Today, there is tremendous explosion in knowledge at a very fast pace, where textbooks cannot provide students with all required information, a library provides a student with requisite supplementary material for extra reading.
We cannot talk about literacy promotion without a library because it is an essential instrument for developing desirable study habits in students.
A library also plays an important role in enhancing a teacher’s effectiveness and classroom performance.
It promotes individual and group learning, helps in developing students’ vocabulary, enhancing comprehension, developing the habit of silent reading and developing problem-solving attitude among students just to mention a few.
Mr. Chairman, it is very unfortunate to note that, although education policy makers are increasingly focusing on the quality of education and school learning environments, but it looks as if as a country we have piecemeal approach to investing in library infrastructure.
There are a lot of basic schools in the country but the question is how many of such schools have a library? On this note, I will like to recommend that, government school projects yet to be built should come with a library component if we are serious as a country in investing in the future of the younger generation.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen. I know for sure, this school produced a lot of Old Students who are better placed in different fields of work across the country and beyond.
This is right time for us to fish out for the Old Students to enable them organize themselves and come to the aid of their Alma Mata. The school should also adopt ways of raising funds in order to support great initiatives through writing to individuals, companies etc.
Mr. Chairman, permit me to digress a little. Representing a literacy foundation that is committed to equipping Ghanaian children with the best of literacy skills, I must say that, the inability of pupils to read and understand is largely contributing to the poor performance of pupils.
A lot of our Ghanaian school children do not understand lessons taught at school because they do not understand English.
The fact therefore remains that, if all pupils can read and understand, they will all be able to do very well in all the subjects taught at school because reading is the key to learning.
Mr. Chairman, it is very sad to note that, many parents are not helping their children to learn how to read at home but they are very interested in watching TV programs with them. They should know that, they are only destroying the future of their children.
In the past, we had what we called bedtime stories but now nothing like that in our Ghanaian homes. What is happening to our generation? It will be good we go back into the past to fetch some of the good things we did in the past.
Parents should make conscious efforts in promoting the culture of reading among children at homes. They should buy books for their children on their birthdays instead of the usual Kalypo, picopico, biscuit, toffee, egg, chocolate etc
Parents should make it a sacred duty to always read aloud to their children at home.
Pregnant women should also make it a point to read aloud to their unborn babies during the 6th month of pregnancy till they give birth.
To conclude, let us all support this library to grow. To my colleague teachers, your students will want to see you always reading at the library so as to motivate them read as well.
Children kindly make good use of the library by always going there to read, doing research, borrowing books to read etc.
A reading nation is a winning nation. On behalf of Read Ghana Foundation, I brought with me 35 story books as part of our commitment towards Literacy promotion in the school. We will do more donation of books to the library in future.
As stakeholders, if we all work effectively, we will shape and change the future of education in Ghana.
Thank you for the attention granted me.
God bless our homeland Ghana!
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