Book fair opens in Bolgatanga

Bolgatanga (Upper East) 17 May ?99

Mrs. Stella Yembilla, Bolgatanga District Director of Education, says lack of relevant textbooks in school libraries is a major contributory factor to the falling standard of education in the country.

She noted that even though education has become a major priority on the country's development agenda, a lot still needs to be done to equip school libraries with the most up-to-date reading and learning materials.

Mrs. Yembilla was opening a two-day Upper East Regional Book Fair in Bolgatanga under the theme "the child has a right to read".

The fair, the first of its kind in the region, was organised by the Ghana Book Publishers Association (GBPA), the Ghana Book Development Council (GBDC), and the Children Literature Foundation (CLF), a non-governmental organisation.

Mrs. Yembilla said in this era where scientific and technological is advancing fast, people living in less developed societies cannot afford to lack behind in the provision of adequate educational facilities.

Mrs. Yembilla, therefore, commended the organisers of the fair for extending their services to the people of the area, but urged them to extend their services to the districts.

Mr Courage Kwami Segbawu, National President of GBPA, said the aim of organising the fair in the regions is to expose students and pupils in schools to locally and internationally published books.

"It is our hope that the children will find these books attractive, buy a few and start the process of developing interest in reading to broaden their knowledge".

He called on local enterprises and business people in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions to invest in the distribution and selling of books.

Eighteen firms are participating in the two-day fair. They include some of the major stakeholders in the country's publishing industry like Afram Publications, Readwide Bookshop, SEDCO Publishing Limited, and EPP Books.

Others are the Ghana Universities Press, Mayan Book Centre, Bureau of Ghana Languages, Africa Christian Press, the Bible Society of Ghana and Royal Gold Publishers.