The Chairman for the National Commission for Civic Education, Ms. Josephine Nkrumah is advocating for readers across the country to use reading as an avenue to transform themselves and the society through the knowledge gained from the books they read.
Ms. Nkrumah was speaking at this year’s Accra International Book Festival (AIBF) on Saturday, March 30. She indicated that the essence of reading should not only focus on pleasure and knowledge acquisition but also geared towards converting the lessons from the various books, poems and other literary works into action.
“The idea of reading is not just to gain knowledge but more importantly to translate that knowledge into action. So if you’re reading and you’re gaining knowledge but it is not something that you can translate into action, believe me, work done is zero.”
She reiterated the importance of turning what is read into real-life situations and further initiated a challenge to the guests at the event as well as the general public to all join a cause to read one book a month to build a better reading culture.
“Books should make us move; books should spur us into action and if they’re not doing that, then sadly, we haven’t attained the maximum objective for writers and for readers as well. So today as we sit here, exchange ideas; we share our knowledge about what is available on the market, what our challenges are. I want us all to read at least one book a month. Whether it is fiction or non-fiction. Sometimes it can even be the Bible or the Quran. The important thing is you’re reading and the reading should inspire you to do something.”
The NCCE Chairman ultimately, mentioned that reading can be employed in solving issues which affect productivity such as timeliness, honesty and examination malpractice.
By: Linda Mensah and Stella Dziedzorm | universnewsroom