Two young pupils, Perpetual Ama Baidoo-Quansah and Victoria Donkoh have won the 5^th edition of the Kobbah Acquah Memorial Reading competition for BS 1 & 2 pupils in the Anomabo/Yamoransa Circuits.

While Perpetual AmaBaidoo-Quansah emerged the winner in the BS1 category with 74 points, Victoria Donkoh won the BS2 Division with 73 points.

The duo represented their circuits at the grand finale of their respective categories and worked extra hard to make themselves proud with excellent performances that helped them to emerge victorious.

Contenders for the BS1 Division

The winner of the BS1 division, Perpetual AmaBaidoo-Quansah, a pupil of the Anomabo Methodist ‘A’ Basic School, represented the Anomabo Circuit ‘A’

Her closest contender, Margaret Nyanful of Saltpond Lower Town M/A Basic School, who represented Anomabo Circuit B came second with 73 points,while . Kofi Aggrey-Fynn Newton of KobinaAnsahof M/A Basic School and represented Yamoransa Circuit placed third with 62 points,

BS2 Division/contenders

The BS2 Division was won by Victoria Donkoh of Anomabo Anglican Basic School A and a representative of the Anomabo Circuit B with 73 points. It was followed by Benjamin Donkoh of KobinaAnsah M/A Basic School who represented the Yamoransa Circuit with 70 points.

EgweiKannatey-Asibu, a pupil of Anomabo Methodist A, who stood in for the Anomabo Circuit A, took the third position in that category with 69 points.

Purpose of the competition

The event was purposely meant to improve and promote literacy to accelerate quality early childhood education among the pupils of the Anomabo/Yamoransa circuits.

The programme, which was organised by the Boys and Girls Club of Ghana- Anomabo, was fully sponsored by the Kobbah Acquah Foundation (KoAF) and it was under the theme: “Reading: Key to Lifelong Learning”.

The Head of Languages Department at the Mfantseman Girls SHS, Saltpond, Mr Joseph Ackon-Mensah, who was the Main Speaker, explained that Lifelong Learning was the effort to have extra education or to develop further skills beyond the formal or compulsory school learning.

“In our current competitive world, girls, boys, men, women who have the true passion to add value to their education and skills, not just possessing certificates, are those who will ‘eat the good of the land’ as the Bible puts it”, he said.

According to Mr Ackon-Mensah, we are not developing as individuals, as communities and as a nation because we have not developed imagination and creativity in ourselves.

He, therefore, encouraged the people to develop high interest in reading adding that “Studies have indicated that there is one habit common among the wealthiest people in the world, and it is READING”.

“First, we must understand that the doors of knowledge can only be opened with READING. The books and other written materials around us contain the great pieces of information we need,” he stated.

He also noted that “knowledge cannot come to us except we move for it by cultivating the habit of reading everything we come across. We need to find the right treasure of information or knowledge in books and other readable materials.”

He, therefore, stressed that it was imperative for the pupils to read regularly all the time but not to wait until they have been given assignments before they would read, because knowledge could not be hidden from a person pursuing lifelong learning.

The event was well attended by several dignitaries and other stakeholders including the SISO for the Mankessim Circuit, Mr Spencer Essiam, teachers as well as parents.