Mr Stephen Adu, Director of Basic Education of the Ghana Education Service (GES), has called on stakeholders in education to help arrest the dwindling reading habit of students.

“The education authorities, schools, corporate organizations and international agencies and most importantly parents and guardians must all come on board to encourage their wards to develop an interest in reading”, he said.

Mr Adu made the call at the launch of the 7th-12th editions of the “Spelling Bee” competition on Thursday at the Kofi Annan ICT Centre in Accra.

It is a five-year programme by Young Educators Foundation (YEF), a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Ghana and is being sponsored by Indomie Instant Noodles Company.

Other supporters are MTN Ghana Foundation, TYPE, Ecobank Junior Saver, JOY FM, DELTA, Muscatella, Voltic, DStv, USA Embassy, New Crystal Health, Campaign for Female Education (Camfed), NEWMONT Ghana, Rufus and Graphic Communication Group Limited.

Mr Adu said the GES’ mandate to carry out the government’s vision of using quality education delivery to accelerate the nation’s socio-economic development was well on course.

He said the vision continued to receive a lot of support from the private-public partnership through various and well-intentioned activities of NGOs and civil societies in Ghana.

The Director said the Spelling Bee competition had exponentially grown in the country since its inception with only six schools in Accra, but had spread across the 10 regions of the country with over 200 schools participating.

“It is great to witness such educational initiatives expand across the length and breadth of the country, thereby giving the less endowed schools an opportunity to exhibit their intellectual prowess as well,” he said.

Mr Adu said reading was a necessary component for knowledge enhancement, academic excellence and success in life and therefore asked parents and guardians to provide their wards with the requisite reading materials for them to gain knowledge and to build their confidence.

He appealed to teachers who have benefited from the programmes of the YEF to use the strategies they have acquired to introduce creative ways of teaching and learning of the English language.

He expressed gratitude to YEF for its Spell Bee programme and assured them of the GES continuous support and encouragement.

Ms Alice Awuah, an officer of Indomie Instant Noodle Company, said they believed in the promotion of quality education in Ghana hence their commitment to support the laudable efforts of the YEF in the Spelling Bee competition.

She said “education is best investment and the most strategic asset required for every nation for success in today’s competitive world driven by knowledge. We at Indomie are driven by this goal to promote quality education and thus this long term partnership between Spelling Bee and Indomie.”

Ms Nancy Keteku, an education advisor at the US Embassy in Ghana, called on the media to be analytical and critical to avoid grammatical and spelling mistakes in their write-ups because such minor mix-ups turn to lower the image of a country.

“Putting up write-ups without proof reading do not send good signals about oneself and a nation as whole, therefore the media must be extra careful to prevent such carelessness,” she said.

Mrs Eugenia Tachie Menson, Country Director of YEF, in her welcoming address, said their vision was to improve lives through education and therefore their extra-curricular activities were meant to complement the mainstream curriculum.

She said the birth of Spelling Bee in 2007 had made a positive impact on more than 20,000 students and close to 1,000 teachers and parents.

She expressed gratitude to Indomie Noodles, which supported the programme to gain a firm footing in the country thus paving the way for others to buy into it to reach the 10 regional capitals of the country.

The Indomie Noodles Company signed another five-year memorandum of understanding with YEF to sponsor the Spelling Bee programme from its 7th-12th editions.