General Manager of Class Media Group (CMG), Bismarck Nana Apeanti, has blamed the poor performance of students in the recent West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) to their heavy use of informal language on social media.
In a speech he delivered as the special guest speaker at the 11th graduation ceremony of the Covenant Presbyterian School at Dzorwulu in Accra, Mr Apeanti expressed concern about the trend, which he said was worrying, and called for the engendering of strict and proper reading habits in students.
He said the poor reading habit of parents also impact their children negatively, and called for a paradigm shift to help improve students’ performance.
“The proliferation of WhatsApp and other social media platforms do not make students learn. They do not read wide and fail to appreciate the proper use of formal language. When you are chatting with children, it is very frustrating as they are not able to express themselves well. The Chief Examiner’s Report released after the WASSCE results were published, revealed that a majority of the students performed poorly in English,” Mr Apeanti lamented, as he spoke on the theme: “Reading For Life, The Role of Stakeholders”.
He charged parents to play a key role in educating their children rather than leaving it all on the government.
The veteran broadcaster added that: “The brain is a muscle and you need to use it or lose it”, hence, advised parents to engage their children in brain development exercises.
For him, watching telenovelas and other TV programmes for long hours impact negatively on children’s development, and, thus, urged parents to regulate such activities by substituting them reading and other learning activities which sharpen children’s cognitive abilities.
Mr Apeanti said he believes Ghana would be a better place if people spent quality time reading to help them develop positive initiatives to make society better.
For her part, headmistress of the Covenant Presbyterian School, Mrs Evelyn Antwi, noted that the school is committed to inculcating the habit of reading in children and called on individuals and organisations to help them furnish the school’s library with books.
She called for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to ensure that the best systems are put in place so that children can be trained and equipped for the competitive world.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
