The Ghana National Gas Company has announced a reading project dubbed ‘Turn a Page’ for about 30,000 pupils from 30 Basic Schools in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region.

The ‘Turn a Page’ project is a literacy project that aims to inculcate reading habits into schoolchildren between the ages of six to 15 years.

Ernest Owusu Bempah, Head of Corporate Communications at Ghana Gas, announced this at a media briefing in Takoradi.

He explained that the project has become necessary following a research conducted by Ghana Education Service (GES) in 2012 – which suggested that only 2% of children in primary two can read proficiently, while 50% of the pupils assessed could not pronounce a single English word correctly; and 44% could read without understanding what they read, while 4% could read with some little understanding.

He said only 35% of basic-school children are proficient in reading. The project aims to close this gap and align with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 4.

According to him, the company is worried that most of the school-going children, especially at the basic level, are unable to read well and spell words correctly.

“We want to see a literate community that can fill up more influential positions at Ghana Gas and other companies in the future,” he said.

Mr. Bempeh mentioned that prior to conception of the ‘Turn a Page’ project, Ghana Gas had undertaken several educational projects: such as construction of a 4-unit teachers’ quarters at Anokye, Asemnda Suazo; an ultra-modern nursery facility in Asemnda Suazo; and donation of educational materials to the Nzulezu Primary School by the Corporate Communications Department worth several thousand Ghana cedis among others.

“At end of the project, we intend to provide 15,000 reading materials to schoolchildren: to ensure a 95% improvement in reading, comprehension, vocabulary and writing; 50% improvement in the performance of BECE in the long-term; as well as provide training for 50 teachers on how to implement effective literacy in the selected schools,” he specified.