Ernest Bempah
THE GHANA National Gas Company is poised to assist children in public basic schools in some parts of the Western Region to improve on their writing skills and cultivate reading habits.
To this end, the company, in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service and the Ghana Library Authority, is introducing a project dubbed ‘Turn a Page’.
The initiative, which will start from the Ellembelle District, is part of efforts to help inculcate the habit of reading into the school children.
The project will make it easier for the pupils to have access to reading materials so that they can read.
Head of Corporate Communications at Ghana Gas, Ernest Owusu Bempah, said available statistics indicated that reading and writing had become a problem within the basic schools across the country.
Speaking to journalists in Takoradi, he said the project would target over 27,000 pupils in public basic schools in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region.
He revealed that the estimated number of head teachers to be trained for the project is about 30 and that about 30,000 reading books would be available for the children to read.
“We are going to collaborate with the Ghana Education Service and the Ghana Library Authority to ensure the success of the project.”
He indicated that there are a number of other stakeholders that are going to be part of the project.
He mentioned them as the chiefs and queen mothers within the Western Region, the heads of basic schools in Ellembelle District, District Directors of Education and Circuit Supervisors among others.
“We are going to have two top celebrities in Ghana who are going to spearhead this project for us,” he stated.
He pointed out that one of key corporate responsibilities of the company is to give back to society, particularly those in the Western Region, adding “So basically this is one of the key areas.”
He reiterated that the current intermittent power outages in certain parts of the country are not a nationwide load shedding exercise or “dumsor” as some people have alleged.
He said the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) was working with some other stakeholders to embark on maintenance works on some power producing machines which are outmoded.
He pleaded with those in the affected areas to bear with GRIDCo since they are working to ensure efficient and constant power supply, adding “There is no dumsor.”
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi