"After School Reading Camp" improves learning in Krachi East

Story & Photos by: Sasu Brako (Education Project Officer-Krachi Cluster)

In the Krachi East District of Ghana, many children were unable to access books in the language they speak at home, their "mother tongue". World Vision Ghana works in partnership with Ghana Education Service and local printers to write over 70 new book titles in local languages. These books are distributed to After School Reading Camps and kept in "book banks" which act like libraries in the communities. Children borrow books from the book bank at their After-School-Reading-Camp sessions. Currently over three thousand, five hundred (3,500) copies of these books have been distributed to 22 After-School-Reading-Camps across the Krachi East programme area.

After School Reading Camp is an integral component ofhe Education Project for early grade learners. They are a place where children can go after school and on weekends to build on the literacy skills they learn at school. Reading camps are facilitated by trained community volunteers. Facilitators lead children to sing songs, dance and read stories - all of which focus on building their reading skills.

 Twelve-year-old, Gloria a World Vision Ghana sponsored child like many other children in her community could not read or write when she started attending After School Reading Camp sessions. Her vocabulary was limited to the alphabet that she was taught in school. Today, she is able to confidently read passages from books as a result of the After School Reading Camp. 

Gloria is also actively involved in facilitating reading camps by reading stories to her friends and asking each other reading comprehension questions. Gloria says “I always have a great time reading to my friends and lead them to read too.”

 Jonas, a reading camp facilitator of the community where Gloria attends Reading camp says, “None of the children at this After School Reading Camp was able to fully read or write when they first joined. The reading camp has really helped them develop their reading and comprehension skills considerably.”