On Thursday November 3, 2016 the people of Klefe will witness the celebration of a rare festival. Of course the Kleviawo are looking forward to this year’s Farmers’ Day celebration but it is not the Farmers Day celebration generating the excitement in town now. The fires from earth ovens and stoves; and steams from soup pots and pans that served patrons of the recently celebrated yam festival have barely receded when the flames of the USAID sponsored Reading Festival are rising. This is another reason, besides farming, for the people of Kleviawo to be excited.
Klefe Stalwarts
Believed to have migrated from Notsie in Togo to their current location along with others, the Kleviawo have thrived to achieve greatness in various vocations and disciplines thus contributing significantly to development of their community and the nation at large. Quick reference can be made to Dr Livingston Buamah and Rev. J.Y. Ledo (both past moderators of the E.P. Church). But Klefe has not only produced religious leaders, others have distinguished themselves in various fields as well. Prof. Prosper Nude (Head of Natural Sciences Department—University of Ghana); Lawyer Kwadzo Kuma Dzanku (an authority on chieftaincy matters); Dr Timothy Letsa (one time Volta Regional Health Director) and many others hail from there.
Yam Festival
For a very long time the annual yam festival celebrated in mid-September to September ending by the Asogli State comprising Ho and its surrounding villages (including Klefe, Sokode, Abutia and Akrofu) is the only major festival that brings together citizens and inhabitants of Asogli State to celebrate harvest from the ensuing farming season to reflect on the ensuing year and plan for the future. The harvest festival usually climaxes with a grand durbar at which the paramount chief of the Asogli Traditional Area sits in state to receive homage from his subjects. The 2016 yam festival celebration was similar to that of previous years in many respects— individuals and corporate organizations made various donations in kind and in cash to support the festival and the Asogli Educational Fund established by Togbe Afede XIV.
Dwindling Fortunes in Literacy
Education and literacy are key to overcoming poverty, disease and other social issues. Yet today, nearly one billion people worldwide are illiterate. Literacy levels in Ghana (especially among basic school pupils are embarrassingly low). The 2013 Early Grade Reading Assessment results gave a clearer picture of the situation revealing that “only four per cent of pupils were able to read with some understanding, with only two per cent of them able to read fluently with understanding.” Writing recently in the September 24 edition of the Spectator under the title “Ghana Suffers from A Reading Deficiency Syndrome” Dr Doris Yaa Dartey cites the UNESCO report released October 2012 where “in Ghana, for example, over half of women and over one-third of men aged 15 to 29 who had completed six years of school could not read a sentence at all in 2008.
A further 28 percent of the young women and 33 percent of the young men could only read part of a sentence”.
If you’re still not convinced, check new media messages, job and television interviews, correspondence among workers etc.
Several reasons have been adduced for this unfortunate situation. Whiles some people believe the causes of the poor literacy levels in schools should be laid at the doorsteps of learners for refusing to take up reading as a hobby, others also argue that teachers themselves are not pious enough to throw the first stone—that they have themselves exchanged their books for phones and other electronic gadgets that only enable them to watch ‘kum-kum bagya” and a host of funny foreign soaps. There are also others who opine that parents and other stakeholders have failed in their responsibility of providing relevant reading materials for students.
USAID Partnership for Education (Learning)
The US Government has set a target of helping 100 million children worldwide to read. The US government has consequently affirmed a strong commitment assisting Ghana achieve the goals of its Education Strategic Plan, 2010 to 2020 through a project dubbed: “Partnership for Education: Learning Activity” The “Partnership for Education: Learning Activity” is a five-year partnership (running from 2014 to 2019) with FHI360 being implemented by the US Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service.
The project, estimated at the cost of US $ 71 million, is designed to support the Ministry of Education’s primary school child literacy improvement plans and efforts and is USAID’s flagship activity that operationalizes the US Government’s support to Ghana’s education sector.
The project aims to improve, expand and sustain reading performance for primary school learners nationwide and is expected to benefit at least 2.8 million primary students with particular emphasis on children in kindergarten through grade three (KG1-P3). It also hopes to bolster the human and institutional capacity of Ghana’s education sector by improving teaching excellence in early grade reading, supporting education systems to sustain reading outcomes and engage communities and parents to promote reading.
Reading Festivals
Reading Festivals were organized in all 10 regions in 2015 between November and December. Pupils in basic schools across the country and major stakeholders including chiefs and opinion leaders, corporate executives took part in the activity which sought to encourage children from KG1 to P3 to read and develop interest in reading through various games and fun activities. This year, the celebration has been expanded to the districts and municipalities and will be held under the theme: “Learn to Read, Read to Learn” (nuxexle, nunya fe gormedokpe, to wit). The celebration will be organized in three episodes (Episode 1 will occur on October 18, 2018; Episode 2 will take place on November 3, 2016; and Episode 3 on November 15).
In all, 12 Districts and municipalities in the Volta Region will celebrate the festival concurrently. The Districts/Municipalities include: Ho, Hohoe, Jasikan, Agortime-Ziope, Ketu South and Adaklu. The rest are: Akatsi North, Keta, Kpando, North Tongu, Ho West and Biakoye. Each District/Municipality would choose a location (a school) to launch or highlight the festival where dignitaries and other stakeholders would assemble. The rest of the schools in the District/Municipality will also organize their festivals simultaneously same day.
Reading Materials
The Ghana Education Service introduced the Cockcrow (which is a collection of short stories, a play, and poems) to, among other things: to promote reading with comprehension; build a reading culture; make reading material accessible to students. The USAID is sponsoring the supply of copies of the anthology to schools across the country.
Consequently, in collaboration with the Ghana Association of Teachers of English (GATE), Master Trainers have been equipped with the necessary skills and information to train Junior High School teachers to be able to deliver in their various schools. JHS Teachers have subsequently been trained in a two-day workshop at Ho from 14—15th September.
Expectations
Expectations about the Reading Festival are high. The Assembly Member for Klefe Electoral Area, Hon. Raymond Buamah hopes the USAID Reading Festival platform would encourage the kids to develop the habit of reading. He adds “I also expect it to be an annual event with technical and financial support coming from USAID”.
Hon. Buamah further recommends the introduction of electronic devices with electronic learning materials on them at the primary school level based on the fact that kids nowadays are more attracted to these devices more than books. With these electronic devices, the kids will develop the interest in reading more than hardcopy learning materials”. He promised to spearhead the formation of reading clubs at the Primary schools; and to look for sponsors to support Primary schools in the community with standard Mobile Tablets with electronic reading materials on them.
Mr Maxwell Gbakah, the Ho Municipal Director of Education believes the Reading Festival has the potential of improving literacy and the overall academic output in the municipality. He says: “education (and for that matter literacy) is everyone business so all hands must be on deck; every stakeholder must show concern”. He has led members of his core management team to Klefe to meet with community leaders and key stakeholders to sensitize them on the festival and to solicit their support for it.
Indeed, when parents and their wards; teachers, celebrities and community leaders meet at the Klefe-Achatime E. P. Primary School on November 3, 2016 there would be only one message on their lips “Learn to Read, Read to Learn.”