First Lady, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has cut the sod for the construction of a forty seater library facility and ICT center for the children at Bortianor in the Ga South Municipality of the Greater Accra Region.
Funded by the Rebecca Foundation, the library when completed by November this year, will have computers and other reading materials to provide the children in the municipality with a conducive environment to learn while developing the habit of reading.
Mrs. Akufo-Addo who is the Executive Director of the Rebecca Foundation, identified reading as the sure panacea to enhancing the quality of education and deepening the intellect of the youth.
According to her, people with a high literacy skill are better positioned to expedite the development of a country and meet its challenges, stating that “a literate population and communities are in a far better position to develop and innovate than less literate societies”.
Harping on the importance of reading and its many benefits Mrs. Akufo-Addo said in a growing competitive world where life-long learning has become the only way to grow intellectually and build a wealth of knowledge, many children in Sub-Saharan Africa struggle at the lower primary level to read in the official or any local language and in instances where they can read, they are unable to understand what they read.
Mrs. Akufo-Addo stated that it is the many benefits inherent in the ability and habit of reading that informed the Rebecca Foundation to come up with the “Learning to Read, Reading to Learn” initiative, a two part concept made up of a television reading programme, and the provision of much needed libraries in some clusters of school across the country.
She said since 2017, the Rebecca Foundation has implemented a number of programmes to complement government’s efforts at developing the country’s human capital, but with special emphasis on women and children.
The First Lady disclosed that so far, The Rebecca Foundation has put up four libraries in Daffiama Bussei Issa in the Upper West Region, Wenchi in the Bono Region, Sefwi Debiso in the Western North Region and Moree in the Central region with three more libraries under construction in Krachi in the Oti Region, Amasaman in the Ga East Municipality of the Greater Accra Region and Kumawu in the Ashanti Region.
The First Lady expressed optimism that the libraries when completed will allow children to acquire knowledge through reading, and gain the confidence to succeed in life and urged community leaders and elders to encourage their children to make full use of them.
She appealed to everyone to consider the developmental projects her husband has done in the constituency and vote massively for Nana Akufo-Addo in the December election.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri