Teach African Writers in Schools - Atukwei Okai

A renowned Ghanaian poet, Atukwei Okai, has emphasized the importance of African writers being taught in schools in Ghana.

Okai, the President of the Ghanaian Association of Writers (GAW), addressed this statement to schoolchildren gathered at the Ridge Church School to celebrate UNESCO World Poetry Day with a festival entitled "Poetry as a window for knowledge" on Wednesday in Accra.

The festival, organized by Ridge Church School UNESCO Club, was the first of its kind, but the organizer, Mrs. Sarah Bucknor, spoke before the event to the Chronicle of her aim to expand the poetry festival first to a regional, then a national level.

Mrs Bucknor stressed the importance of poetry with regard to literacy levels in schools.

However, the occasion encompassed much more than this, as the poetry read by the children, and the songs sung by the UNESCO Club, celebrated peace, African heritage and culture, while also addressing more sombre issues such as AIDS.

Okai, in the main address, spoke of the power of poetry to humanize man and its ability to help man realize the importance and beauty of the world around us.

The poems also provided a vehicle for the children to address and express their feelings about large and important issues that would otherwise be difficult to approach.

He also lamented the lack of poetry available for children by African authors.

Referring to his own book of poetry for children, The 'Anthill in the Sea', the author explained how he had written it for his children when he had been unable to find African poems to read to them.

This, he declared, needed to be addressed, as African children should read African poems. In this respect, it was welcome to see the presence of some African language poems in the recitals by the children.

World Poetry Day, started by UNESCO in 1999, is celebrated worldwide, with the children of Ridge Church School joining organizations as far away as Japan and Venezuela in their celebration of the power of poetry.