Students from five educational circuits in the Ahanta West Municipality in the Western Region have participated in the maiden edition of Yinson Reading and Spelling Bee Competition.
The contestants were drawn from the Kindergarten, Lower and Upper Primary through to the Junior High School (JHS) level. The participating schools in the circuits are from Abura, Agona, Apowa, Dixcove and Ewusiejoe all within the municipality.
The competition, organized by Yinson Ghana in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service (GES)in the Ahanta West Municipality is to inculcate reading habit in the school children.
Edward Mensah, Corporate Social Responsibility Coordinator of Yinson Ghana, in an interview with the B&FT, explained that “this is going to be done annually until we see that majority of these school children in the municipality can read and spell correctly as well as be able to compete favourably with schools in other districts or municipalities.”
Also, he said, this is to motivate and sustain the interest of students in reading, promote healthy competition among students and schools as well as help improve result of students in English Language and prepare them for higher learning.
Again, he said, reading assist students to improve upon their concentration, develop critical and analytical thinking skills, strengthen their memory and expand their vocabulary. “This is also to give back to the communities in which we operate, we believe in education which also enable us to meet the qualification for a better job,” Mr. Mensah added.
Mark Adoba Adateke, Ahanta West Municipal Director of Education noted that the attitude of reading has fallen over the year. “This competition is very laudable and commended Yinson for their continued support over the years. Reading has several advantages; it reduces stress, expands and strengthens our vocabularies as well as improve language and knowledge about the world,” he said.
He advised parents and guardians to find strategies to get their children to read at all times “this will affect their performance in school and during their examination.”
About the competition
An observation made by the Education Service in Ahanta West Municipality pointed out that reading has been identified as one of the challenges impeding the performance of students, since most of them are either not motivated to read or unable to read at their grade level.
This is evident in the result students obtain in their Termly Examination, Municipal Common Examination, Mock Examination as well as Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). As a measure to eliminate this challenge, if not reduce it to the barest minimum, the Ahanta West Directorate of Education instituted Reading and Spelling ‘B’ Competition during the commencement of the 2022 academic year, to inculcate the habit of reading and bring competition among students and by so doing sustain their interest to read.
There are 80 Kindergartens, 72 Primary Schools and 73 Junior High Schools with total enrolment of 31, 107 within the municipality. To enhance education in the area, Yinson Production West Africa operating in the municipality agreed to sponsor the competition to enhance their education and for improved results during examinations.
Awards
| Schools | Circuits | Positions |
| Kindergarten | Ewusiejoe | 1st |
| Apowa | 2nd | |
| Abura | 3rd | |
| Lower Primary | Apowa | 1st |
| Agona | 2nd | |
| Dixcove | 3rd | |
| Upper Primary | Abura | 1st |
| Apowa | 2nd | |
| Agona | 3rd | |
| JHS | Dixcove | 1st |
| Agona | 2nd | |
| Apowa | 3rd |
Each of the contestants and participating schools received certificates and a plague. Over 70 story books were distributed to all the students who participated. Also, two Samsung tablets each loaded with over 1,000 story books were given to two outstanding students at the JHS level, a male and a female. They are Ebenezer Awusah from the Arthur Fischer Catholic School and Lisa Smith at Agona SDA Basic School.
