The Compassion International Ghana, in collaboration with the World Readers Program, is set to support about 30,000 children across the country in literacy programs and other related issues.
This, according to the West African Programs Manager for the World Readers Program, Abdul Kahad Alhassan, is to help groom and motivate children to take their books seriously.
Speaking at the international literacy day event held in Ho, he said that educators and families are struggling to help children regain the ground lost to the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He stated that as a result of the pandemic, millions of children worldwide with a focus on Ghana, lack literacy skills.
The theme for the program was ‘Transforming Literacy Learning Spaces’.
Mr Alhassan noted that the two organizations have plans to bring low-cost digital reading solutions to communities across the country to help children experience the joy of reading and overcome educational barriers.
“If we want to overcome today’s literacy challenges, we must come together because partnership and collaboration is the key and it really takes a community to support a reader,” Mr Alhassan said.
He noted that with collaboration with an NGO like Compassion International, the program will help create the learning environment children need to develop crucial literacy and life skills.
He noted that, at Worldreader, they believe that because reading is the foundation of learning, supporting young readers means setting them up for success in school and their communities.
The Senior Manager for Compassion International, Mr Isaac A. K. Brown noted that literacy faces several challenges and according to UNESCO, 42% of the adult population is illiterate.
Hence there is an urgent need to transform the current literacy spaces to make an impact, he stated.
Mr Brown noted that Compassion International has taken it upon itself to help release children from poverty as it is their core mandate to help communities in that regard and literacy is at the heart of their initiative.
He said that their partnership with Worldreader has seen the training of participants in four regions in the country.
Mr Issac Brown added that Compassion International has 15 frontline church partners piloting the digital literacy training and each has been supplied with learning aids tablets to help improve their learning skills.
Compassion International seeks to help children, especially from deprived communities across the world to attain any level of education they desired and also help their parents with money and employable skills to be financially independent.
