The Rebecca Foundation has handed over two libraries to the people of Daffiama-Bussie-Issah District in the Upper West Region and Wenchi in the Bono Region to boost reading and learning among school children in the two regions.
The libraries are part of four libraries constructed by the Rebecca Foundation in parts of the country to inculcate the habit of reading in school children as a means of improving their learning skills.
In a statement read at the commissioning ceremony on behalf of the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, Executive Director of the Rebecca Foundation, acknowledged the contribution of the current New Patriotic Party’s administration in prioritising education with various policies such as free SHS and the reinstituting of allowances for teacher trainees to improve upon “the ability of our young Ghanaians to effectively propel national development”.
Mrs Akufo-Addo however bemoaned the inability of many children to read and write as a result of factors including limited access to reading materials.
This, she added, adversely affects the child’s ability to learn and that “literacy is how lifelong learning and a child’s ability to learn to the highest levels is made possible”.
The First Lady has therefore thanked development partners of The Rebecca Foundation, including the Ministry of Education, Ghana Library Authority, Book Aid International, the District, and the Municipal Assemblies, where the libraries were located for their support in executing the four projects.
She also announced the completion of two more libraries in other parts of the country to be commissioned soon.
The Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Library Authority (GhLA), Mr Hayford Siaw, expressed gratitude to the First Lady in helping the agency meet one critical objective in its ‘2020 Year of Learning’ which was to increase the network of libraries in the country.
He stated that since 2017, government through GhLA had increased library network from 61 to 74 and now 78 with the new libraries built by the Rebecca Foundation.
The library project formed parts of the Rebecca Foundation “Learning to Read and Reading to Learn” initiative started in 2018, to help improve literacy levels among Ghanaian children.
The initiative involved a reading television show for children shown nationwide on GTV Saturdays at noon and repeated on Wednesdays at 5 pm, the Ghana Learning TV, Net2, and GN Junior TV, as well as construction of libraries in school clusters that lacked access to library facilities.
Present to grace the commissioning were MCEs, Officials of GES, Ghana Library Authority and Chiefs.
