The Corporate Affairs Unit of the Ghana Library Authority (GHLA) in Collaboration with the Accra Central Library has embarked on a three year project that seeks to empower young girls in the Greater Accra region to acquire knowledge by developing positive reading habits.
The project dubbed “ReadGirl”, was launched in Accra under the theme: Empowering Girls through Literacy” with the focus of providing library services to young girls in Junior High Schools (JHS) that do not have library facilities.
The Accra Central Library through its mobile library van service will be responsible for providing reading materials, holding mentorship sessions and organising reading and spelling competitions for adopted JHS girls, under the project.
So far, about 118 first year JHS students of Bishop Girls’ Basic School have benefitted from the project as they have been enrolled onto the Accra Central Library’s Mobile Library Service.
In an interview with DGN Online, the Lead project coordinator, Jemima Ansong, emphasized the importance of the project by saying that, reading and comprehension is not only fundamental in achieving academic success but also opens the door to many untapped opportunities around the globe.
“We are rolling out this project to tell these young girls that their dreams are possible through literacy,” she added.
She disclosed that the decision to widen the coverage of the project to other regions will be dependent on the outcome of a periodic baseline assessment which will be carried out on the JHS students to test their reading abilities and help measure the impact of the project.
Speaking at the project launch, the Communication and Sustainability lead coordinator for the project, Angela Osei Gyan, advised the girls to take advantage of the opportunity the project is offering.
“We will also encourage individuals and Corporate Institutions to help promote literacy by partnering Ghana Library Authority to further this cause” she said.
The Head Mistress of a beneficiary school, Dorinda Quaye, expressed gratitude to the “ReadGirl” project team and together with teachers of the school pledged their support in sustaining the project.
By Issah Mohammed