Executive Director of the National Folklore Board, Bernice Ann Deh-Kumah, says the family setting is the primary source of transmitting and hence, preservation of folklore.
She contested that the transmission of folklore is not dead but very much alive and in full practice.
“The transmission of folklore is still in practice. Our names are part of our folklore. The traditional names given to children on days they are born is still in practice and is a part of folklore. Mostly, the family is the primary transmitter and preserver of folklore,” she told Samuel Eshun on a special discussion on e.tv Ghana’s Made in Ghana Month themed; ‘The Essence of Folklore to Character Formation’.
The Executive Director of the Folklore Board argues there is a slight problem in the transmission and preservation of folklore in the family. “The nature of the problem is that sometimes parents leave for work early in the morning and return in the evening, barely having time to tell stories to their children.”
With children losing out on this experience, they are unable to pick up moral lessons from folklore. Some families and schools are however putting in the effort to educate children through folklore stories and games.
She debunked claims technology has interrupted the transmission of folklore. With Ghanaians still organizing and celebrating festivals, eating local foods and engaged in other traditional activities, she insists folklore is still being passed from one generation to the other.