Youth of Choice Ghana donates books to schools
Basic and senior high schools in the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam District numbering 125 have received a total of 16,098 books as a donation package from a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Youth of Choice Ghana.
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Receiving the books from the Country Director of the NGO on behalf of the schools at a short ceremony at Ajumako Bisease last Tuesday, the District Director of Education, Madam Macaiver Ivy Quaye, expressed regret that most public basic schools did not have libraries to promote reading culture among schoolchildren.
She, however, said that challenge should not affect their reading culture, pointing out, “we don’t need a library before we can build the foundation of our children; teachers must be ingenious in order to help the children cultivate the love to read always.”
Appreciation to donors
Madam Quaye, who chaired the function, thanked the donors and said she was fascinated that the books included copies for kindergarten and lower primary pupils.
She charged the teachers to read the books and prepare to use them effectively to build the foundation of the schoolchildren.
In a speech, the Country Director of Youth of Choice Ghana, Mr Kwame Boakye-Yiadom, said his organisation had as its partner Children International, a United States (US)-based NGO, which together have the aim of helping to bridge educational gaps, particularly between schools in urban and rural areas.
He said the idea was to join the government and other stakeholders in education to help children build the reading culture in their formative years.
Mr Boakye-Yiadom said that way they would help in “developing and turning young people’s ideas, passion and energies into positive actions and harnessing such actions to inspire positive change in the society”.
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Lack of libraries
He expressed concern about what he described as the situation where rural public schools, including senior high schools, did not have libraries, which, he said, was one of the factors that lowered standards of education.
Mr Boakye-Yiadom said it cost $12,000 to bring the books from the US to Ghana and thanked the Ajumako-Enyan-District Assembly, heads of schools in the district and other stakeholders for their assistance in diverse ways.
The Chairman of the Ajumako Bisease Development Association, Mr K.N. Okyere, thanked the NGO for fulfilling a promise to donate the books to the district, and asked the teachers to encourage the children to read them frequently to help them cultivate the reading habit.
The District Coordinating Director, Mr Anthony Mensah, who represented the District Chief Executive, Mr Peter Light Koomson, said the district assembly was ready to help raise standards of education in the district and so had put measures in place to that effect, including conducting common examinations for basic schools.