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Reading Culture in Africa: the Ghana case

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An epoch of nadiral readership: Encouraging the reading culture  in
Africa–the Ghana case

Isaac Owusu Nsiah

African Studies Centre
University of Oxford
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract
Reading and developing countries are considered incompatible. This is due to the increasing
apathy towards the habit of reading in these countries of which Ghana is not an exception.
Existing scholarships have provided a considerable account of such an abysmal reading
culture in Africa. In Nigeria, Zambia, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi and Rwanda, causative
factors of poor reading culture have been identified and thus measures have been put in
place to address this appalling situation. Ghana is one of the countries that suffers from this
canker. What has been the factors that have caused the nature of this appalling situation?
What are some of the measures to help promote the culture of reading? This work
problematizes the culture of reading in Africa with emphasis on Ghana. It challenges the
dominant narrative on Africa being considered as an oral and necessarily chatting society
devoid of the culture of reading. I do this with retrospective reflections on how the Gold
Coasters (People of Gold Coast, now Ghana) commenced their journey through books
before independence. This work finds that, the era of social media also has a part to play
when discussing the poor reading culture in Ghana. More importantly, it provides a
productive and strategic avenues to encouraging the reading culture––mentally supporting,
motivating, strongly recommending, patronizing, reading made something which more likely
to happen, becomes an integrated pattern of behaviour where people habitually engage,
show great interest and dedication in books and other information bearing materials that
are not necessarily required for their advancement in their disciplines or careers but for
their general wellbeing in a lifelong process.

Keywords: Reading Culture, Social media, Africa, Ghana.


Within this study the reading culture or the culture of reading refers to when reading is highly valued and
becomes a shared common attitude, part of people’s activities and thus becomes a habit as people show great
interest and dedication towards this faculty.

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 *……+But books are for reading and study and not mer ely to be put upon
shelves. How great would be our neglect and folly, if we were to let
them lie there and miss the help and uplift and direction, they might
bring to us. To get into the habit of reading good books is indeed to walk
along a way of life that has rest, refreshment and inspiration. The
opportunity is given to all through the depot organization. To neglect
books is to refuse to enter into the most splendid human heritage”.
—Book Steward, The Methodist Book Depot, and Cape Coast, in the African
Morning Post 1938.

Introduction
This work builds on anecdotal reflections made on interactions and discussions on issues
that are related to the supposedly stereotyped nature of reading. There were three
instances I observed of which I was a participant. During my third year at the university, I
had the chance to offer political parties and pressure as one of my elective courses. When
we met the Professor for the first time, he introduced to us the course of which we were all
glad. Suddenly, he brought out the course packs for the first four weeks. They could be
likened to four times of an Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary. The Professor further told
us that, “you can only be successful now and beyond only if you read”. Consequently, in the
subsequent weeks, a class initially of about one hundred and fifty, only twenty students
were able to stay of which I was part. The second instance was during my national service as
a research and teaching assistant. I had the chance to review the work of some final year
students, but they further needed extra articles to help spice up their work. I sent them the
articles via email. They later came back and told me to read on their behalf and summarize
the articles. I asked them why they couldn’t and thus how they did pass their exam. One
lady expressed herself freely:

“We don’t have much time to read, in fact we can’t read those long articles or
something. We just chew and pour to pass our exam, it’s the degree we want. So,
after reading and using the articles for our work what will be the relevance of these
papers and the time wasted since we need small areas?”

Finally, I gave my cousin a copy of ‘David Copperfield’ by Charles Dickens. She told me she
could not read because of the number of pages. I finally gave her ‘No longer at ease’ by
Chinua Achebe. For about a week she had not even opened a page, and finally told me, what
would she get from reading a book? Because in school if it’s not exam she hardly reads
anything. So, if she would read, she would read just for reading sake but do not know the
essence. Interestingly she spends most of her time on her phone. The deputy director of
Books and publishing, National department of Arts and culture, Siphiwo Mahala, gives an
account of an instance when there were power blackouts also known as ‘load shedding’ in
Africa and thus he had to light a candle to read a novel. One person wondered why she had
to assault her eyes in that manner since she was not enrolled in an academic institution and

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therefore had no obligation to read, let alone doing so with the help of a candle.1 This
means that people are ignorant about the ‘core’ relevance of reading. Yet, reading remains
very essential to the full participation in modern society—adds quality to life, provides
access to culture and cultural heritage, empowers and emancipates citizen as well as brings
people together.2
This work problematizes the culture of reading in Africa with emphasis on Ghana. It
challenges the dominant narrative on Africa being considered as an oral and necessarily
chatting society devoid of the culture of reading. I do this with retrospective reflections on
how the Gold Coasters (People of Gold Coast, now Ghana) commenced their journey
through books before independence. This work finds that, the era of social media also has a
part to play when discussing the poor reading culture in Ghana. More importantly, it
provides a productive and strategic avenues to encouraging the reading culture––mentally
supporting, motivating, strongly recommending, patronizing, reading made something
which more likely to happen, becomes an integrated pattern of behaviour where people
habitually engage, show great interest and dedication in books and other information
bearing materials that are not necessarily required for their advancement in their disciplines
or careers but for their general wellbeing in a lifelong process. It employs the conduct of
elite interviews, participant observation, critical review of electronic sources and other
relevant secondary literature.
This work comes in four sections. The first part tackles an overview of reading culture or the
culture of reading. The second part conducts a retrospective presentation and review of the
reading culture that existed in colonial Ghana. The third section briefly looks at the
dwindling nature of the reading culture in Ghana. It examines some of its causes and thus
puts Ghana social media era in context and diagnose its malaise as one of the banes of poor
reading culture in Ghana. We then shine the spot light on the various ways to encourage the
reading culture. Finally, we draw conclusions to the study.

The Reading Culture: An Overview

The decline of interest in reading is a worldwide phenomenon. 3 Some scholars find that, the
trend of globalization of media and the rapid development of the entertainment industry
have displaced reading and thus have been instituted as a vital source of information and as
a pleasant and prestigious form of leisure. 4 In the African context, existing scholarships have
provided a considerable account of such an abysmal reading culture in Africa. In Nigeria,
Zambia, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi and Kenya, causative factors of poor reading culture
have been identified and thus measures have been put in place to address this appalling

1
Sipihiwo Mahala, cultivating the culture of reading: an imperative for nation -building, cape librarian (2010)12
2
Kingsley Nwadiuto Igwe, Reading Culture and Nigeria’s Quest for Sustainable Development Library
Philosophy and Practice (e-journal), 2011.482
3
Lera A. Kamalova and Natal’ya D. Koletvinova, the problem of reading culture improvements -bachelors of
elementary education in modern high school i nstitution, International Journal of Environmental & Science
Education, 2016, 11(4), 473-484
4
ibid

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situation.5 In the African context, some attribute this situation to the fact that Africa is
being labelled as an “oral society” or the one that lacks reading.6 To add, the continent is
also characterized as a chatting society but not a reading one and thus people prefer
conversing to reading engagement.7But it is very important to note that the greatest assets
of every country it’s undoubtedly the human resource and thus it is the literacy rate of the
population that form the resource base. Currently the world is characterized by information
communication technology where access to information has become a key imperative for
success in almost every endeavour, what one knows is what separate them from others.
Due to this, the institution of culture of reading has become extremely necessary if any
society is to remain competitive in the global age.
In the Ghanaian context, over the years, the culture of reading which used to be the
bedrock of the educational system and society has gradually dwindled. Many Ghanaians
have shied away from reading to embrace sophisticated audio-visual means of information.
This has exposed our society, especially the youth to all forms of anti-social behaviour that
have led to a sharp decline in moral standards and low standards in grammar. Poor reading
habits have crippled the development of a vibrant national literacy culture and impacted
negatively on the growth of authorship and general writing skills.8 The prevailing lack of a
culture of reading manifests itself in various aspects of our lives, and especially on socio-
economic issues such as poverty and unemployment. There is an obvious link between
illiteracy and poverty on the one hand, and literacy and economic prosperity on the other
hand. Literacy underpins development in all sectors of society and is central to economic
prosperity. The cultivation of a culture of reading therefore becomes one of the key
imperatives in our project of nation-building.9
Although extant works have been produced with regards to diagnos ing this appalling
situation especially in Africa. Few works tend to look at the advent of social media and its
discontents which this work tries to significantly reassert . Again, in trying to revive the
culture of reading in Africa, it becomes imperative to challenge the dominant perspectives
on Africa being an oral society. This work therefore contributes to the ongoing di scourse and
bring to the fore how reading has been an integral part of the African society through

5
Bosede Sotiloye & Helen Bobunde, assessment of students reading cuklture in a Nigeria university:waxing or
waning, Legon Journalof humanities, 29.2( 2018). Mulindwa, G. “Can reading research in Africa be done in
isolation? The influence of Literacy, education, publishing and the book industry on reading in Africa, paper
presented at 67th IFLA council and general conference. August 16 -25, 2001. Makenzi M (2004), Reaching out
to the less advantaged: reading tents in Kenya. World library and information congress: 70th IFLA General
Council,. Available at: http://www.ifla.org/iv/ifla 70/ prog04 .html . [Cited 16th June 2005]
6
Mulindwa, G. “Can reading research in Africa be done in isolation? The influence of Literacy, education,
publishing and the book industry on reading in Africa, paper presented at 67th IFLA council and general
conference. August 16-25, 2001.
7
See Sangkaeo, S. Reading Habit Promotion in ASEAN Libraries. (1999)
8
Nana yaw Osei Darkwa speaks at the Ghana reads campaign. www.youthiconsgh.org/Ghana –
ReadsCampaign-project/
9
Sipihiwo Mahala, cultivating the culture of reading: an imperative for nation-building, cape librarian
(2010:12)

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historical approach with reflections from Colonial Ghana. It finally provides a productive and
strategic avenue to encouraging the reading culture in Africa especially Ghana.

Retrospective “building blocks”: a vital reading culture in colonial Ghana

Several assertions are made on the fact that the declining culture of reading in Africa stem
from nature of the ‘oral tradition’ that has been part of history transmission. Due to this, it’s
not a disturbing issue if Africans only chat but do not read. 10As this phase of the work will
show, literary engagement and the culture of reading has been part and parcel of Africans,
specifically Ghana. Before I start with the narrative and critical engagement of literary
culture in colonial Ghana, Professor Adu Boahen in his treatise demonstrates how Africans
organized themselves socially, culturally, politically and thus a demonstration of literacy.
‘Literacy’ in the sense that Egypt setup her first printing press in 1822 which demonstrated
the zeal for the culture of literacy and also reinforces their characterization as the cradle of
civilization.11 The journey through books within the colonial epoch, was undoubtedly as a
result of a Eurocentric preparatory revolution by the Christian missionaries. Generally, their
contribution to literacy was immense. As early as 1529, Estevao da Gama, the captain and
governor of Elmina received written orders from King John III of Portugal to help the
children of Elmina to learn how to read and write. Even though this initiative died out, there
was a revival in 1572 when four catholic Augustian missionaries arrived at Elmina. The
chaplain of the castles taught the children in reading, writing and catechism. Missionaries
such the Basel Wesleyan, Anglican, the Methodist episcopal Zion (AME Zion) and also the
even day Adventists established many schools in the Gold coast. 12 Most importantly the
embarkment and spread of literacy due to the scientific study of the local languages: namely
Twi, Fante Ga and Ewe. Wilhelm Johann Muller, J.P de Mares, Jacobus Captain, Rev D.
Westermain, Johannes Christaller ,Johannes Zimmermain to mention few who contributed
to the development of local dialect that shaped the literary enlightenment of the people of
gold coast. The print media was another area that the missions made great impacts they set
up press houses and published vernacular literature and newspaper. The Basel mission
established a small printing press at Akropong where the Christian messenger was published
periodically. The Ga fables (C.P Moir) Twi pilgrim’s progress (R.R Watt), the Gold Coast
Methodist at cape coast and other publications were indispensable efforts to spread
literacy.20
Against this backdrop and drawing extensively from “literary culture in colonial
Ghana: how to play the game” of life by Stephanie Newell, I demonstrate in retrospect how

10
Mulindwa, G. “Can reading research in Africa be done in isolation? The influence of Literacy, education,
publishing and the book industry on reading in Africa, paper presented at 67th IFLA council and general
conference. August 16-25, 2001.
11
A. Adu Boahen, African Perspectives on Colonialism (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press 1984).
12
Hans W. Debrunner. (1967)A history of Christianity in Ghana, as cited by Vincent Okyere, A historical survey
20
of Ghana. ibid

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the reading culture was adopted institutionalized and thus became a very vital part of the
general development of the people of Gold Coast.

Within the colonial period, people in the Gold coast commenced their journey
through books before independence. They appropriated the tools of literacy to curve out
new cultural and economic spaces. The reading culture in colonial Ghana concentrated on
the changing nature of the missionaries and colonial classrooms and attending to the
teaching of literacy, medium of instructions in schools, alternations to the literature syllabus
as well as to responses of African readers to the reading matter that circulated. Readership
and social formation in colonial Ghana even stretched the literary networks along the entire
west coast of Africa. Colonial reading culture could not be regarded as an autonomous
practice which was thrown like a punch at the Ghanaian society, knocking existing
interpretative practices out of action. But in the century prior to Ghanaian independence
colonial literacy was dropped like a pebble into a pool of existing literacies and convention
sending ripples through the multiplicity of reading practices which operated already in local
cultures.13 There was a common belief that widened and served as the basis of the culture
of reading. The belief was that ‘reading is one of the fundamental s of education and
education is the backbone of civilization……Reading truly maketh man full’. Due to this the
capacity to be a good reader formed the axis around which discussions of civilization,
progress and decolonization rotated. Stephanie Newell notes that:

The reading matter in circulation around missionary schools and the spaces
within colonial, institutional literacies sustained in Ghana. These African
spaces invoked and retracted particular European and mission conceptions
of reading but fell outside the Eurocentric association of reading with the
interiority, truth, silence and the private sphere. 14

Most importantly, books in the colonial period were regarded by readers as relevant to their
personal, domestic lives and also as instruments to excite public debates about individual
morality. Readership within colonial Ghana transformed colonial literary values and put
them into new uses. Through the culture of reading, several people emerged authors due to
their creative writings that resonated vibrantly and became renowned. What connected
authors such as Kobina Sakyi, J.E Casely Hayford to mention few are some of the profound
writers within the colonial epoch. Jenkins notes that, the intellectual history of Ghana is
characterized by periods of systematic and intense literary activity and periods of relative
silence.15 There was emergence of coherent set of African aesthetic values in colonial Ghana
due to the reading culture which denotes how people’s attitude towards the functions of
fictions, values and expectations formed a distinctive literary aesthetics. The reading culture

13
Stephanie Newell, “Literary Culture in Colonial Ghana: how to play the game of life”(,Indiana university
printing press: 2002)
14
Ibid.p5
15
Ibid p6, Ray Jenkins(1985)

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was very strong within this period in the sense that ,in 1935 there was an essay competition
organized by the Methodist depot launched which invited commentaries on the topic ‘my
favourite book and why’. More than two hundred entries were submitted and thus
contained record of reader responses to the literature that was circulating around colonial
West Africa on the mid 1930s.16

Another distinctive feature that proved the institutionalized reading culture in

colonial Ghana had to do with the existence and growth of literary networks which revealed
the dynamic way in which local readers appropriated and utilized English language text for
their own immediate ends using literature to express their own social and economic
aspirations within the rapidly changing and highly charged atmosphere of the colonial
society. There were several reading clubs and social formations that gathered most of the
people and thus championed the cause of readership. Even though, some of these
associations were formed as early as I the 1830s, some of the strong literary clubs were
formed by the politically active cape coast elites in the 1870s and thus members included
early nationalist politicians such as J.E Casely Hayford and J.P Brown. These were original
members of the cape coast reading room which was an earnest enterprise set up in 1882,
which involved the establishment of a library and debating clubs for the intellectual and
moral improvement of educated youths in the town. These clubs created a meeting point
for readers and genres where issues and ideas could be explored in the public space opened
up by the book.

Tab 1.0 Literary and Social clubs(reading associations) in the Gold Coast ,18311950

Name of association Year of

formation

Youngman’s free and mutual improvement society social union 1890

Youngman’s free and mutual improvement society II social and literary 1897
club
Rodger club 1905
Gold coast national research association 1910
The young people’s literary club 1923
Young men’s literary club 1927
Old students union-Accra training college 1929
Optimist literary club 1923
The nationalist literacy society/study circle 1935
The Accra royalist society 1935
The reformers' club(Christiansburg) 1935
Teshie teachers’ literary club 1937

16
Ibid p1

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 Self-improvement literary club 1938
Moonlit literary and social club 1938
The youths literary club 1938
The youths progressive literary and social club 1938
Old boys' association, Mfantsipim 1940
Old boys' association, Adisadel 1940
Old boys'association,st Augustine’s 1940
Old Achimotan association 1940
Nzima literature society 1932
Axim literary and social club 1933
William de graft's society for promoting Christian knowledge 1859
Party of gentlemen’s literary club gold coast union association Mfantsi 1881
Amanbuhu Fekuw
Three wise men society 1895
Young ladies' Christian association city club 1897
Gold coast national research association 1915
Gold coast Young men’s Christian association 1919
The cape coast literary and social club 1919
The eureka club 1921
Koforidua literary and social club 1929
Youngsters literary circle 1938
Literary and social unity club 1937
Old Achimotan association 1940
Nsuta scholars union 1949
Nkoranza literary club 1949
Mo scholars’ union 1949
Bekwai improvement society 1950
Bekwai literary and social club 1950
Mangoase literary and social club 1938
The catholic Young men’s literary club 1920
Ga young people’s literary club 1932
Tamale African club 1938
Study circle of youth(three wise men society) 1895
Central literary club 1923
Cosmo literary club 1930
Salt pond literary and debating clubs 1886
Wineba debating club 1886
Wineba central literary club 1923
Accra royalist society 1935
J.P Browns private literary club 1895

Source: Newell (2002:33-35).

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The multi layered connections between these clubs and creative writings are revealed by the
fact the majority of the country’s earliest popular novelist were also members of the literary
clubs. For example, J.Benibengor Blay, who is and was described by many as the grandfather
of Ghanaian popular fiction called(35),joined the literary club at Aboso mines.in his
autobiography novel, coconut boy(1970),Blay describes how the club debates centred
around African intellectuals such as Dr.Aggrey, Mensah Sarbah, Atto Ahuma and S.R Wood.
Blays creative flame was kindles by the books he read at the club, and thus started to
compose journalistic pieces in the late 1930s, shortly followed by political booklets and love
stories which were printed at as local newspapers. Authors such as J.E Edu, J.Abedi-Boafo
and Gilbert A. Sam were all part of reading clubs. These people were all successful authors
and publishing entrepreneurs. 17Several non-elite authors were produced due to an
intellectual space offered them to air their ideas and thus were able to put pen to paper in a
closed, receptive environment.

The reading culture in the colonial Ghana was also possible due to the proliferation of
books and their reading materials in the colony.in the late 1870s,after sixty years ‘activity on
the gold coast, the Basel mission set up a book and tract depository at the Christiansborg
middle school, which offered books at reduced prices. The first manager of the -missions’
book and bible depot was C. Buyers. Also after fifty years educational work on the gold
coast, in 1882 the Wesleyan Methodists mission set up its own bookshop and press. Each
missions’ bookshop was located in the thick of its own school and churches which pulled
customers from its pupils and concerts. From many decades until at least in the 1890s the
missionary book stores dominated he influx of literature to the gold coast, supplying biblical
and informational literature. L.S Pickard, book steward of the Wesleyan book depot
explained that:
Our one and only aim is to make available to the African unlimited supplies of
good literature Social and religious, in English and vernacular for African reading
clubs and small private Libraries which sprang up in the affluent, urban arrears
along the southern half of the Gold Coast. 18

The Basel mission book depot which was located in Accra remained the largest book shop in
West Africa. There standard works of fiction, books on laws of health. English grammar and
literature, religious book, dictionaries, hymn books and others. One key feature of the
proliferation of books was that in colonial Ghana book selling and library outlets sprung up
wherever Africans were engaged in literary activities and thus many schools offices,
churches and newspapers had small booksellers on their premises.

17
ibid
18
Ibid.p10

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‘Reading culture Sunk to its nadir’: Ghana’s social media era and its discontents.
Statistically, there are 814 million illiterates in the world, the huge percentage is made up of
developing counties especially, Africa. In Nigeria and Uganda, due to the massive dwindling
nature of the reading culture several scholars have investigated into the causative factors of
such situation. 19 Dr. Kwesi Atta Sakyi 20, has expressed his concerns on the nature of culture
of reading among Ghanaians based on what he observed. He notes that:
It is a pity and a national embarrassment that the mere mention of the word
gargantuan, sent the whole of Ghana agog, with many tongues wagging, as if some
unprintable or unmentionable taboo word had been uttered. I wondered then what was
so special about such a bland and banal word. I asked myself reflectively, ‘Do Ghanaians
read at all these days? What the heck is the hullaballoo, kerfuffle and media excitation
about a commonplace word? I thought to myself that perhaps the circumstances
surrounding the application of the word made it the more intriguing. I also wondered
why many Ghanaians were caught flat-footed or taken aback or flabbergasted, stupefied
or befuddled by an ordinary word. My conclusion was down to our reading culture,
which has sunk to its doldrums or abysmal low point.21

It’s with no doubt that the culture of reading has dwindled in Ghana over the course of the
21st century. This has manifested in the poor academic performance and the general
wellbeing of the people of Ghana in terms of information gathering and thus updating
ourselves with the status quo. The situation is very pressing in the sense that, people
nowadays are ignorant of the day to day information that circulate in the country. The
culture of reading which used to be the bedrock of our educational system and society has
gradually dwindled with many Ghanaians shying away from reading to sophisticated audio
visual means of information. It’s very obvious that in the late 1960s and 70s, Ghanaians
enjoyed reading newspapers and novels. But, from the 1980s, because of the altering
political and economic landscape, education was given a low priority both by governments
and individuals. Several of the country’s educators went to seek greener pastures. The
penchant for reading and writing waned. During this period everybody was finding a way to
eke a living. The period was a lost decade for Ghana in education wise. 22There are several

19
Bosede Sotiloye & Helen Bobunde, assessment of students reading cuklture in a Nigeria university:waxing or
waning, Legon Journalof humanities, 29.2( 2018). Mulindwa, G. “Can reading research in Africa be done in
isolation? The influence of Literacy, education, publishing and the book industry on reading in Africa , paper
presented at 67th IFLA council and general conference. August 16 -25, 2001. Makenzi M (2004), Reaching out
to the less advantaged: reading tents in Kenya. World library and information congress: 70th IFLA General
Council,. Available at: http://www.ifla.org/iv/ifla 70/ prog04 .html . [Cited 16th June 2005]
20
A senior lecturer at the international school of Lusaka, Zambia.
21 th
See Ghana Web,17 March 2012,
www.mobile.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomagePage/features/Garguantuanism-and-poor-reading –Culture-
inGhana-232930
22
ibid

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factors that have caused this canker and thus being summed up by Dr. Kwesi Atta Sakyi. He
asserts that:
Everybody is hell-bent on either gaining access to the corridors of power or
using every means possible to amass wealth. Our social priorities have been set
with education and self-development below the pile. Everybody wants
shortcuts to wealth and opulence. There are no dilettantes or amateur readers,
who are reading for fun. Cocaine dealers, portfolio-carrying contractors and
bribe–seeking civil servants and politicians, have debased education in our
country by their gargantuan malfeasance, diverting critical resources into their
personal accounts. Ghana has sunk to the point whereby it is not what you
know that matters but rather who you are and who you know. People use fair
or foul means to acquire tertiary education and then they use their social
networks to gain them fast-track upward social mobility. Scholarship in
education, in some instances, has been thrown to the dogs. Second, the
proliferation of media houses has not helped matters. Some new-fangled
media upstarts engage in gargantuan lies on air and in print, peddling insults
and obscene professional misbehavior, which to say the least, is infra dig. Who
will read newspapers or magazines written by these scum of media
practitioners? Hence, the waning reading culture in Ghana. Third, many
Ghanaians lack knowledge of time management. We fail to utilize the chinks or
breaks we get at work or at home to read something new. We fail to raise the
bar or set high self-development goals. This is so because after having
completed our tertiary education, we think we are in a comfort zone, career-
wise or marriage-wise.23

Ghana’s social media era: bane of a canker

The 21st century is considered as information explosion age. That is an era where
information provision and management have become more critical to all levels of
development than before. The social media development in Ghana and elsewhere indeed
have been very productive in all aspects of life. Social media has helped in the business
sector in a variety of ways. With the supposedly obsolete nature of the traditional media
such as Television, radio and print commercials, the new age media connects so many
people from all walks of life on one platform.it has become one of the most viable
communication choice for bloggers, article writers and other content creators. Politically,
the new media platforms has enhanced the political participation of democracies in the
world. For example in Ghana, most of the political party’s flag bearers are on the media who
sometimes post political messages, during campaign era to make the people more informed
of certain policies and their cardinal plans. Social media has drawn us closer to these

23
ibid

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political elites. Also elections and its aftermath in terms of results are now very easy to
ascertain due to social media. Due to connectedness of people on these platforms, civil
unrest and peaceful demonstrations are also developed effectively. A typical example was
the ‘DUMSOR’ vigil that went on in Ghana which began initially on social media
platforms.24News are easily accessed due to vibrancy of social media. What then is social
media? Social media is “an aspect of the Internet which allows individuals and groups to
create and publish online content, share the content, and interact about it”. 25 Social media’
is a multipurpose platform with web-based technology which incorporates text, sound,
video, and images with the purpose of making communication more interactive,
appreciative and enjoyable. 26In its simplest form social media, deals with tools such, such as
Facebook, what’sapp Twitter, Skype, LinkedIn, Classmates, Tagged, my yearbook, Meet up,
YouTube, Netlog, MySpace, Hi5, Flickr and Photobucket that used for networking.
Ghana’s social media era denotes an epoch where people are connected to the use of the
afore mentioned tools for social networking. Its relevance cannot be overemphasized, due
to the volume of information globally that people get when they attached themselves to this
new age media.
However, the dwindling nature of reading culture in Ghana is attributed to a
significant extent to the era of social media. Prior to this several researches conducted
reinforce the fact that advent of social media is the bane for the abysmal level of reading
culture. In Nigeria, many parents are worried over their children habit on Facebook and
other social media platforms due to the fact that their wards hardly have time to read.
Reading habits are altering, because of the steady control of social media over the lives of
people especially young ones, the reading habit is vanishing into the air. Students now lack
the skill of reading and instead spend more time on electronic media. This situation is also
present in the Ghanaian society. In an interview with an educationist and theologian he
opined that:

The world has taken over the minds of the youth nowadays. Even Christians
don’t read their bible. They are always on their phone and making
unnecessary conversations. The world I mean is what they call the
WhatsApp, Facebook and the others. They chat sometimes very deep in the
night and do not read and learn. They come home with poor grades.in our
time where these things were not there we used to read. Even these things
should have helped them read. I believe it’s the devil who is working and we
have to pray for our children.27

24 th
Citifmonline,16 May,2015, www.citifmonline.com/2015/05/16/thousands -attend-dumsor-vigil/
25
Lusk, B. Digital Natives and Social Media Behaviours: An Overview. The Prevention Research, Vol. 17.2010
pp. 3–6.
26
Kaplan, A.M., & Haenlein M, “Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media,”
Business Horizons, vol. 53, no 1, pp.61 -64, 2010.
27
Interview,Abuakwa(June 24,2017)

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In 2014, the deputy minister of education in charge of tertiary education, Samuel Okudzeto
Ablakwa stated that the advent of social media had negatively affected the writing and
speaking of English among students in the country. He didn’t doubt the merit of social media
and thus stated its usefulness when it comes to communication among friends and families.
But he further made a point that they transfer how they communicate on these media to
the examination room and how they communicate as well.28Reading habits in Ghana are
becoming elusive ,specifically due to addiction to the internet and cellular phones which
they believe are the tools and avenues where they can do their research and entertainment.
But the internet as a main tool for reading and thus neglecting books is an impediment to
the mental development of students. 29 Ruth Kwakwa, the Dean of students for Ashesi
University opines that:
I think we all need to be more aware that our smart phones are eating into
our reading culture. It’s so much easier to pick up phone than a book these
days. Books can’t win from electronics, so if in high school or at home, you
didn’t have a culture preceding electronics then it will be tricky. For most
people they will have to limit their phone interaction time to a certain
minimum and use the rest of the time for reading. 30

In a close interview with a librarian at the faculty of arts and social sciences (KNUST), she
expressed that:
There are so many books in the library, but at times we come, and nobody
ventures. I don’t know the kind of university students these people are. The
use of social media has been abused by these students. Even when they
come to the library to supposedly read something you see them chatting
with their phones. Some come here and pretend they are reading but they
are not.in fact the advent of social media is indeed a threat to the reading
society. I think the social media has taken Centre stage as far as academic
life is concerned.31

Thanks to the advent of social media, what is expected of students that is, reading to keep
abreast with what is happening around the world, they spend quality time surfing the
internet. In most universities’ students do not read, even the few who read once in a while
do so as a means of passing their exams. The libraries that are meant for reading have been
turned into browsing Centre. Kwaku Ansah, the director of read wide Ghana limited

28 th
Daily express,30 September
29 th
Ghana broadcasting corporation(GBC), Laari Naanbaat, the declining interest in reading among the youth,9
April 2013
30
Interview, Ashesi university bulletin, February 2014.
31
Interview,KNUST (June 23,2017)

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observed that the current dwindling culture of reading will not augur well for the
development of the nation if prudent steps not taken to reverse the unfortunate trend. 32

In a direct observation made, a very hardworking woman and widow expressed her woes
with respect to the current attitude of her daughter. She bitterly cried:

I shall seize you phone, I shall seize your phone! You don’t work, you don’t
help me in any way. You don’t sleep early but wake up very late in the
morning. The only thing you do is to look at your phone every day, talking
and laughing as if you are crazy. This WhatsApp or Facebook who brought
them. You are dumb, you don’t read anything and always bring poor results
to the house. I just leave you to God. 33

It’s indeed a very worrying trend which the era of social media has caused with respect to
the reading culture among Ghanaians and elsewhere.
‘On the premise of a bandwagon’: Encouraging the reading culture in Ghana.

Drawing inferences from the preceding sections of the paper, this section demonstrates the
various avenues, through which the reading culture can be encouraged––mentally
supported, motivated, strongly recommended, patronized, made something which more
likely to happen and finally becomes an integrated pattern of behaviour where people
habitually engage, show great interest and dedication in books and other information
bearing materials that are not necessarily required for their advancement in their disci plines
or careers but for their general wellbeing.34Before I proceed, Steven Fischer offers a brief
poetic sum up of the relevance of reading, he states:
What music is to the spirit, reading is to the mind, Reading challenges,
empowers, bewitches, enriches. We perceive little black marks on white
paper, or a PC screen and they move us to tears, open up our lives to new
insights and understandings, inspire us, organize our existences and connect
us with all creation.35

Strategic partnership of government and other stakeholders.

Due to the fact that the prevailing lack of reading culture manifests itself in various aspects
of our lives, especially on economic issues such as poverty and unemployment and also as
literacy underpins development in all sectors of the society and central to economic
prosperity in a country, the cultivation of a reading culture becomes one of the key
responsibilities of the government. There should be an integrated national strategy, to
harmonized and properly coordinate all activities geared towards encouraging the reading

32 th
General News,9 August 2009
33
Field work,2017(participant observation)
34
Within the context of this essay, ‘to encourage the reading culture means all that I have encapsulated.
35
see Fischer, the history of reading,2004

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culture in Ghana through the ministry of education, ministry of information and other strong
entities that are present in Ghana.

Development toward the reading culture shouldn’t have been a problem in Ghana.
The reason is that Ghana’s has got more than enough stakeholders to promote literacy and
the reading culture in Ghana. The Ghana national book development (GNBD), which
operates under the Ghana education service has the responsibility as a national agency to
plan, coordinate and manage the various activities of all groups and bodies or individuals
that are concerned with book development.it also has the responsibility to carry out a
comprehensive study and research programmes on all problems essential for the
development of the book industry and for the provision of an effective service to the
reading public. Most importantly, it is also charged with the responsibility to establish a
suitable machinery for the promotion of the reading habit among all age groups particularly
among children. 36 Other agencies such as the Ghana book association, Ghana federation of
master printers, Ghana booksellers’ associations, Ghana book design and illustration
association, Ghana library association, Ghana writer’s association. Contributing immensely
towards the educations and sensitization of Ghanaians on the core relevance of developing
a reading culture, the government of Ghana should also spend amount of money in the
establishment of a consolidated national reading programmes. Establishing and equipping
libraries is one of the major ways to improve and encourage the reading culture. In a close
interview with an educationist and headmaster, he expressed that:
I have taught English language for so many years. The habit of reading has
become a big issue in this country. If you sometimes look at the essay some of
these students write, there is a strong evidence that, children don’t read
nowadays. I strongly believe that the government has a role to play in the
encouragement of the reading culture. The government can build community
libraries, institution of national reading week each month and quizzes he held
at district levels and prizes given. The government can make reading a core of
adult education nationwide. Most importantly, to make this a national priority,
there should be institution of reading awards in every national holiday. 37
For example, in Malawi, the government through the ministry of education rolled out a
national reading programme which aimed to improve literacy levels and encourage the
reading programme which aimed to improve literacy levels and encourage the reading
culture in the country. The programme was funded by the USAID and DFID, with an amount
of 70million USD and 6.8million USD respectively. This indispensable directive has
encouraged and improve the reading culture situation in Malawi. 38 Similar programme was
championed by the previous government NDC government, which planned to fund a reading

36
See the history of the GBDC at http://gbdc.gov.gh/our-functions
37
Interview ,Abuakwa, (July 2 2017)
38
Followhttps://www.mbc.mw/index/index.php/radio-2/item/3069-govt-rolls-out-national-reading-
programme
49
Citifmonline, 23rd September 2016.

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programme to promote and encourage the reading culture in the country. 49Government
initiative and other stakeholders’ integration can be one of the bold steps to encourage the
reading culture as this approach will serve as an overarching body that will continuously
assess the effectiveness of various projects and thus suggest corrective measures.

Parental, educational institutions and community engagement

The encouragement of a reading culture also lies within the interrelationship and connection
within the circles of parental, school and community engagement. Within this work the
parental approach denotes the primary from of socialization that is the family. I situate the
societal and community engagement perspective within the efforts of schools (teachers) and
NGOs (other independent initiatives).Research has repeatedly shown that motivation to
read decreases with age, especially if pupils' attitudes towards reading become less
positive," it said. "If children do not enjoy reading when they are young, then they are
unlikely to do so when they get older. For younger readers in particular, their home
environment is critically important. Home is a massive influence “Supportive and
understanding parents are key to developing their child's reading."39

It’s quite imperative that every child must become fully competent in reading to
succeed in school and discharge responsibilities as a citizen of a democratic society. Since
reading is a lifelong activity, Rosenberg in his research conducted in some developing
countries of which Ghana was part denotes notes that reading should be made pleasurable
to the community from an early stage.40Drawing on Vygotsky’s socio cultural theory, human
experience within which learning takes place is embedded in social interaction. 41 Due to this
proximal development in literacy and culture of reading, parents have much responsibility in
promoting and sustaining the reading culture in their wards. Again since the emerg ent
literacy theory suggest that literacy development is continuous and ongoing, parents have a
powerful influence on children’s reading development. 42The impetus to read at an early
stage as McLane and McNamee reinforces; development of literacy is a profound social
process, embedded in social relationship particularly in children’s relationships with parents
and caretakers. 43Motivation and development should come from parents and guardians at
early stage through exposure to oral language, written language and books. The head of
English department of a private school added that:

These children don’t like reading at all. Even though we do our best to inculcate the
habit of reading in these children, much responsibility lies within our homes. I teach

39
See https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/jun/03/how-to-encourage-
studentsread-for-pleasure-teacher-top-tips
40
See Rosenberg, Reader development and reading promotion: recent experiences from seven countries in
Africa, ,2003
41
See Vygotsky L.S, 1987,1978,1993
42
Teale, W. H. and Sulzby, E. Emergent literacy as a perspective for examining how young children become
writers and readers.2003
43
McLane, J. B. & McNamee, G. D. Early literacy. (Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press. 1990).

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3608425

 a child in the house, I went there one day and found the mother and other children
together seriously watching nowadays these telenovelas or what they call them.
Instead of allowing them to study they were together watching an unnecessary
program on TV. But these parents have a big role to play of reading can become part
of their lives. My suggestion is that, parents can make reading become part of the
lives of children and thus grow with it, if only if parents insists that their children
read at least a paragraph of a book to them either every morning or evening. 44

Parents are the prime source for early literacy development and inculcation of good reading
habits among children thus making them willing and responsive readers through interaction
with them in the first months and years of their life. 45Parental and guardians should spend
much of their time, resources and energy in nurturing their children’s growth in literacy,
irrespective of economic and educational levels. Parents must motivate their words to
become active literate adults and lifelong readers.

After the parental effort comes one of the vital arenas where reading culture can be
promoted fully. Educational institutions, specifically basic schools are areas where the
culture of reading can be inculcated amongst students and thus become better citizens.
Within schools’ children need to get motivated whether intrinsic or extrinsic to develop the
habit of reading which then becomes part and parcel of their lives. All schools constructed
and those already in place should have properly established library buildings spacious
enough to cater for the student population and with adequate library books. Teachers
should make reading enjoyable and fun in the sense that variety of books on the market are
tailored to different ranges of age. Another important initiative teacher can employ is
promoting reading as a form of escapism from the general pressures of school and social
lives encouraged pupils to see reading as a form of self-indulgent relaxation, instead of
another intelligence test. In relation to this, students should be taken to the library often
times, organization of essay competitions and quizzes in schools and afterward motivation
of deserving students. Most importantly since reading is a skill, people should be taught
these pre-requites skills in schools by teachers. If these skills are developed, it will reinforce
children’s love for reading. The community engagement here deals with the total
inclusiveness of everybody within the community to tolerate and embrace the act of
reading. With respect to this Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other individual
initiative or entities are points of consideration. Aside government interventions, the NGOs
paly very vital role in the thorough promotion of the habit of reading.as part of the wide
responsibility of encouraging the culture of reading, these institutions role cannot be
overemphasized.as will be show and demonstrated in the Ghanaian sense, these entities
provide foundations that motivate and encourage the reading culture normally within

44
Interview, Nkawie (July 4,2017).
45
Paratore, J. R., Cassano, C. M., & Schickedanz, J. A., Supporting early (and later) literacy development at
home and at school. 2011

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communities. There are several instances where NGOs and other independent institutions
have demonstrated immensely in the promotion of the reading culture.

An NGO called CODE, a literacy promoting entity which aims in touring Africa had the
chance to come to Ghana to help inculcate the culture of reading in several regions of the
country. Within their expedition, people were sensitized and enlightened on the relevance
of the habit of reading and thus much books were provided for schools within the regions to
enhance the culture of reading. 46 In 1996,1997,2000,2001 and 2002, the OLINGA foundation
embarked on capacity building in schools in order to enhance the reading culture. This was
due to the fact that the habit of reading among pupils and students were at its lowest point,
thus there was a need to facilitate and encourage the students within the country to
develop the habit of reading. Most importantly, due to technological advancement, the
AKAA project and world reader embarked on the enhancement and facilitation programme
on the reading habit among pupils and other people within communities in Ghanaian. There
was provision of tablets which had dictionaries and several stories which were provided for
the students to read habitually. Also reading was made very enjoyable as some of the nature
of reading, came in the form of games and other pleasant activities. This initiative currently
has provided the people of Asiafo Amanfo58, and its surrounding access to reading materials
outside and inside the classroom, which has provided much impetus to establishing a habit
of reading.47 Last but not least, the ACP (African, Caribbean and pacific countries) street van
project has also contributed immensely to the reading culture in Ghana and Africa at large.
With the street van library, vehicles with volunteers move from village to village, set up tent
libraries and thus welcome people especially children to help them read and thus promote
the literacy rate. With these few instances, the culture of reading can be encouraged and
institutionalized, based on the initiatives of NGOs and other independent foundations, as
there is immense contribution towards community engagement which allow people to
embrace the reading activity which in the long run becomes part and parcel of their lives.

Establishment of reading clubs and networks

One of the major paradigms for encouraging the reading culture, will be the creation of
joints and networks where people meet to discuss, share opinions on books or other
information containing items. Within the colonial epoch, one of the major ways throug h
which there was much growth and development towards the reading culture was as a result
of the existence of several reading clubs and social formations, which provided the
platforms for people to become good readers and thus manifested in their personal
development. It was a distinctive feature that sustained the institutionalization of the habit
of reading in colonial Ghana. Reading clubs creates the environment to make reading

46
Read more on CODE, http://www.codecan.org/program/ghana
58
Asiafo amanfo is a town located in the eastern region.
47
See http://theakaaproject.org/2016/06/brnging-didgital-reading-to-rural-Ghana

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3608425

enjoyable and pleasant. Shilpi Somaya Gowda, a lifelong member of a book clubs and author
asserts that:
Book clubs have been an important part of my life for many years. My first
book club was composed of business school classmates in San Francisco and
is still going strong. Over a dozen years, we read books ranging from a dens e
biography. Each month we read a book often disagreed and always held our
discussions amongst great food and open spirit. Through the years, I have
joined other book clubs and though each group was different, they all shared
something in common, a spirit of openness and good will, a desire to think
and discuss and in doing so marry our individual lives with the greater world.
Books provided both the opportunity to reflect on our lives and to think about
the larger world. Reading and book clubs nurtured the part of my mind that
loves to live in a story.48

In a Ghana a number of reading clubs have been formed and thus several activities have
been put in place to promote the reading culture. Within the reading clubs, members read
varieties of books and information bearing materials. On August 19, there was a reading
club that was formed by the No Limit Charity Organization in James town, accra.it was
formed to inculcate into the less privileged children on the area the habit of reading.
According to the executive director, Ms. Rita Esionam Garglo, she explained that, the
reading club will deserve as a mini library where children will come and read as this initiative
will widen their knowledge as well as improve their reading skills. 49

In 2015, MTN and Joy FM organized a reading competition among reading clubs from
the Kanda, Ablekuma, Osu and Burma camp. The competition according to the executive
director, Mrs. Cynthia Lumor, was an intervention to encourage the art of reading. Also, to
install reading habit among the youth so that they could read one or two books in a week to
help them develop into great personalities for the country. 50 A robust book club campaign
would add meaningful value in our endeavour to address the lack of a culture of reading,
which is one of the pressing challenges that confronts us as a nation. Encouraging the
reading culture will be best approached, if a number of book clubs are formed. Motivations
can be attached to several essay or reading competitions that will go a long way to instill the
habit of reading and thus becoming part and parcel of most importantly the youth in their
lifelong experiences.

48
The relevance of book clubs is briefly opined by a lifelong reader and
author, http://www.bookclubgirl.com/book_club_girl/2011/04/
49
A reading club is formed by an organisation to promote and encourage the reading culture
http://www.ghananewsagency.org/education/ngo-launches-reading-club--78729
50
Kanda Reading Club Crowned Champions Of MTN, Joy FM Reading Clubs Competition,
https://www.modernghana.com/news/602005/kanda-reading-club-crowned-champions-of-mtn-joy-
fmreading.html

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Conclusion

Several developing countries, especially Africa, suffers from the canker of poor reading
culture. Due to this majority of countries in Africa are not informed because they lack the
habit of reading. In Nigeria, Zambia, Uganda, and Malawi, scholars and othe r international
initiatives have made provisions through research and funding respectively to help address
this situation. Ghana faces the same problem, as majority of Ghanaians are apathetic
towards reading. A very sickening spectacle is amongst the youth and students. These are
the category of people who should consider reading as a very important life building
process. Within schools, whether basic, secondary and tertiary, students only read when
there is examination. This attitude stems from the fact that, the relevance of reading itself
has not been identified and thus that intrinsic motivation towards reading a missing
desideratum. This has gone a long way to affect the, academic performances, common
expressions in the English language and most importantly the thinking abilities of these
young individuals on whose shoulders the future developments of the nation rest. This work
has shown that several factors inhibit the reading culture and thus the most pressing of it all
being the era of social media. It’s quite sad as within the age of information exploration,
reading culture has not be patronized. Vital information is shared every now and then on
social media, thus within the 21st century reading culture should have been much improved
within developing countries especially of which Ghana is not an exception. On the contrary,
people––mostly, the youth spend much time on social media unnecessarily. With all these
stamping blocks, can the reading culture be restored? But Douglas opines that, people must
become fully competent in reading to succeed in school and discharge responsibilities as
citizens within democracies.51 Also through reading, humans will have the tools to transmit
knowledge to each succeeding generation it allows one to listen to wisdom and people of all
ages.52Within the colonial epoch, people of the Gold coast saw the relevance of reading and
thus journeyed their way through books which went a long run to shape their cultural,
political and social lives and also created a foundation which p rojected towards
independence. But will the reading culture survive within the era of social in Ghana?

It’s against this backdrop that this work has demonstrated several functional
avenues where the reading culture can be encouraged. Government and stakeholders’
initiates are very vital when discussing encouraging reading culture. This is due to the fact
that, there should be a central periphery which would coordinate activities that will be
geared towards. Due to the fact that reading nation contributes to development,
government intervention and other associated partners as demonstrated cannot be
overemphasized. Again, as this work has shown, parents, educational institutions and NGOs,
have a collective effort in encouraging the reading culture. Drawing on several theories, to
be fully developed in the habit of reading should star from the home.it then continues from

51
See Douglas, M.P, primary school library and its services 1961
52
Okebukola, F.O, Reading: a key to lifelong development. A key note address delivered at workshop on
readership promotion campaign organized by the national library of Nigeria.

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 schools, as teachers have much responsibility to inculcate and motive students to adopt a
reading lifestyle through several ways as shown within this work. Aside the interventions on
the part of government, non-governmental organizations and other independent initiatives
are vital when discussing, encouraging reading culture in a country. Contributions made by
these foundations are massive and thus impact significantly on the lives of people as far as
imbibing a reading culture is concerned. Last but not least, formation of book clubs and
networks––a rigorous campaign on the formation of books clubs, with its relevant impact
will encourage people to embrace the reading culture.

There is greater optimism, with respect to the promotion of a reading culture through the
avenues provided and modelling aspects of reading promotion strategies on the various best
practices from around the world. Whatever forms the reading campaigns might take, it is
incumbent on all role players to work together in pursuance of the vision of creating a
reading nation.53

53
I borrowed these hopeful words from the deputy director of Books and publishing, National department of
Arts and culture, Siphiwo Mahala from South Africa.

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