The Sekondi-Takoradi Cluster of Compassion International Ghana Assisted Projects has marked the World Literacy Day celebration at Christ the King Methodist Church, Anaji, with a call on schoolchildren to be abreast of digital literacy to fit into a globalized village.
This year’s celebration was on the theme:” Promoting Literacy in the Digital Era”.
The celebration brought together thousands of schoolchildren from all the zones in the Sekondi-Takoradi Cluster in a literary competition.
As part of the celebration, Compassion International Ghana organised a quiz competition in various language activities for the zones with Zone A scooping the overall best position.
Mr. Henry Nyanzu Kofie, Project Director of Compassion International Ghana, said literacy was not just about reading and writing but about critical thinking.
He said Compassion International Ghana continued to organise capacity building on structured literacy programmes for volunteers and teachers to teach participants accomplish their mission.
Mr. Kofie underscored the importance of literacy such as improved academic performance, personal and spiritual growth, reading and comprehension with its attendant massive community impact.
Madam Wilhemina Cooker Davies, lecturer in Communication Skills at the Takoradi Technical University, who spoke on literacy in a digital era, said the digital era had become part and parcel of life hence the need for school children to be well equipped.
She said literacy required the ability to read, write, understand and reproduce what they read.
Madam Davies advised schoolchildren to go through digitalisation safely as they become more sensitive in using the internet to avoid scammers and kidnappers.
Madam Gloria Biney Dontoh, Municipal Director of Education at the Effia Kwesimintsim Municipal Assembly (EKMA), whose speech was read for her, called for on-line safety precautionary measures for school children.
She said literacy extends beyond the traditional mode of reading and writing skills and that the digital world had brought in its wake, changes such as critical thinking and problem-solving.
She appealed to schoolchildren to engage in on-line and global communications and learn multiple languages to enhance their communication.
The Director identified equitable access to internet connectivity, lack of e-books, audio books, education Apps as some challenges facing literacy in a digitalized world.
Madam Dontoh called on parents to guide and work together with their children to bridge the digital divide to promote literacy.
She said the Ghana Education Service (GES) encouraged inclusive literacy for visually and hearing-impaired school children.
Very Reverend Isaac Kwame Ghartey, Superintendent Minister of the Anaji Estate Christ the King Methodist Circuit, said digitalisation had now become part of church activities.
He said the information world of today required literacy and asked the church to conform to the digitalized era.
Very Rev.Ghartey advised the Church to embrace the positive aspects of digitalization and discard the bad ones.
Earlier, the schoolchildren displayed placards with inscriptions as: ” Knowledge is Power: Literacy is the Key”,. “Every Book is a New Adventure”, ” One Book Can Change Everything” and “Teach a Child to Read: Change a Life Forever”.