The culture of reading would soon be given the needed impetus when Readwide Limited in collaboration with Family Tree Entertainment embark on a nationwide campaign to generate interest and promote a vibrant reading culture among Ghanaians. Dr. Ansah Asare, the Chief Executive Officer and Majority Shareholder of Readwide Limited disclosed this in an interview at his office in Accra. The Readwide boss said reading was very paramount if we were to build a knowledge based society and to subsequently remain competitive in a globalized world where access to information is crucial to the development of individuals and nations alike. He hinted that his outfit would soon launch a campaign christened ” Ghana Reads” to champion and drive home the critical importance of reading as Readwide’s contribution to the national development agenda. He further reiterated that the culture of reading among Ghanaians was on the decline raising concerns among the general Ghanaian populace, attracting several calls for an improvement. He said the “Ghana Reads” campaign would seek among other things to raise awareness about the importance of books to education, information, development skills and lifelong learning, using reading as a vehicle for social change. It will also seek to re-echo the importance of libraries. Dr Asare hinted that a multi-pronged methodology would be adopted in promoting the campaign using music as a major tool. He said literacy and other broad-based public awareness campaigns in schools, colleges, the work place, the home would be aggressively pursued to achieve desired results. The doctor of law indicated that the task ahead was arduous therefore urging all well meaning individuals and corporate institutions to come on board in realizing this noble dream of a reading Ghana to dispel the notion that Africans shy away from books. He hinted that one of Ghana’s top artiste and hip life diva, obour would be the “Ghana Reads” campaign ambassador which is also endorsed by celebrities like Stephen Appiah, Michael Essien, Marsel Desailly, Komla Dumor, Kofi Adzololo, Prof. Azumah Nelson among others. He further stated that the campaign would be given presidential endorsement by his excellency the president of the republic of Ghana John Agyekum Kufour and some key and seasoned political figures. He said the campaign would not be directed towards students alone but would cut across the general Ghanaian populace ranging from early childhood to adults, with parents having the responsibility of making every home a reading home and to also ensure that the centrality of encouraging reading in the home is integrated into the thinking of all key stakeholders concerned with education, health and parenting. Dr Asare said the campaign would evolve around a potpourri of specific events like the “Ghana Reads Festival/ Bazaar”, “Reading Football Concert/Bash”, “Creative Writing&Reading” for children, “Ghana Reads SHS Tours ” for students, “Ghana Reads Idol” for the general public, “Get Caught Reading Photo Contest” and the “Five Book Contest for Parents”. In a seperate interview relating the “Ghana Reads” campaign, the ambassador and music icon for the project, Bice Osei Kufour known in music circles as “Obour” said he felt honoured to be selected as the ambassador and icon for a project he describes as higly creative and a novelty. He remarked ” i deem it a great hohour to embark on the “Ghana Reads” project because it holds the potential to turn the fortunes of our country around as far as knowledge seeking is concerned and i am all for it” He said he had the honor of doing a similar project with the national road safety commission on road safety, a project he believes caught up so well with Ghanaians and assured of his preparedness to go all out. He remarked ” I believe in education as a critical tool in fighting poverty of all types and forms” Obour called on all stakeholders especially the media both print and electronic to adopt the campaign as part of their corporate social responsibility to ensure its given the needed attention. He challenged all to rise to the occasion and urged all to do it for God and Country.
Source: GHP
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