The Effutu Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES), has engaged the services of a reading expert, to, under the certificate of urgency, conduct reading clinics for Junior High School (JHS) one and three students in some selected schools within the Effutu Municipality.

The objective of the clinics was to sharpen the reading skills of students who performed poorly in English and Fante languages during examinations.

Speaking to the Press, Mr Edward Ghunney, the reading expert who is also an educationist, blamed the poor reading of children at public schools on educational researchers.

According to him, they have woefully failed to come out with any comprehensive research that will make it easy and simple for the children to read and understand the English Language.

The schools have been selected on a pilot basis in the Effutu Municipality.

It was realized that, in the 2012/ 20 13 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), some schools did not perform creditably in the English Language paper, hence the decision.

Mr Ghunney said the reading clinics are to serve as immediate interventions to help public schools overcome the reading challenges they face.

Mr Ghunney said the falling standards of education should not be blamed on either the children, teachers or stakeholders, but rather research on reading.

According to him, research should be aimed at assisting and empowering the children to know easily how to read, adding that there must be fundamental methods to help in teaching and reading.

He said the concept of reading skills should start from kindergarten to make the foundation stronger to enable the children command the language.

Mr Ghunney suggested that the English language be practised alongside the mother tongue to make it easy for the children.

He said reading should be made a subject in the country’s Universities, naming it as faculty of reading, adding that this would enable graduate teachers to acquire special skills in reading.

Mr Seth Emmanuel Panwum, Effutu Municipal Training Officer, said the GES Directorate would access the clinics afterwards to see whether they would be replicated in all schools to enable the children overcome their problems in reading.

He charged the head teachers to monitor the exercise to ensure its success.