Prof Yankah cries for libraries for children, Tuesday, October 19, 2010, Spread

THE Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof Kwesi Yankah, has made a passionate appeal to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to facilitate the establishment of community libraries throughout the country to rekindle the habit of reading among children.

“Concern for our poor reading habit has been expressed, but beyond this I am yet to come across a district or municipal assembly whose infrastructure plan for the year includes the building of a library for respective towns or villages,” he stated.

Prof Yankah was speaking at the fourth Toyota/Children’s Literature Foundation (CLiF) Awards in Accra at the weekend.

This year’s awards had Mr Ralph Sutherland winning the Illustrator Award for his work on, “Voice in the Forest”, authored by Efua T. Sutherland. The award-winning title went to Afram Publications, while Sub-Saharan Publishers went home with a special award for its role in promoting children’s books in the country.

The CLif is a voluntary, non-governmental, public interest organisation established under the auspices of the Ghana Book Development Council (GBDC), with the objective of encouraging and promoting the production and use of good quality children’s books.

Prof Yankah said it was worrying that apart from the regional libraries, which were themselves poorly stocked, public libraries did not appear to be a priority in Ghana.

He said in other parts of the world, municipal authorities made special effort to cater for children’s library needs, independent from those of adults.

“Children’s libraries, children’s science museums, children’s parks, children’s stores are not constructed as appendages of those of adults but to attract separate, specialised considerations, since children’s needs are peculiar and children need special attention,” he noted.

Commenting on the need to inculcate the reading habit in children at an early age, he said experts had clearly demonstrated that reading brought immense benefits to children, particularly if cultivated at an early age.

“Reading aloud to children improves their hearing and listening skills and helps them to memorise quickly to raise their intelligence levels. It also helps in instilling correct pronunciation in children, improving their concentration power, as well as attention span,” Prof Yankah said.

Mrs Mary Boye, the  President of CLiF, stated that the organisation had, over the years, taken a number of initiatives to increase the steady growth in the field of children books publication.

The General Manager of Afram Publications, Ms Harriet Tagoe, was elated about the award, stating, “We will keep the spirit up so that come the next award, we will feature again.”

She said the award would motivate the company to continue to working hard to ensure that the quality of its materials and illustrations met international standards.

She said to promote the reading habit among children, the company was presently involved in revising the style of writing and presentation to make the books more attractive to children, in addition to several community projects that would make more books available to those living in underprivileged communities.

Mr Sutherland, winner of the Illustrator Award, said it was an inspiration to start drawing again, a hobby he had dropped because of his architectural engagements.