Ms Shirley Tony Kum presenting additional Booksmart tablets to an official of the Northern Regional Library Project
VIVO ENERGY Ghana, the exclusive marketer, and distributor of Shell branded fuels and lubricants, has launched the second phase of its Community Digital Literacy Project in the Tamale Metropolitan area to expand the scope and reach out to more school children.
The second phase of the project was launched in collaboration with Worldreader Ghana and the Northern Regional Library.
Under the phase one, twenty-five (25) households within the Tamale Metropolis were selected trained and assigned BookSmart Tablets which provided the households unlimited access to Ghana Education Service-approved reading books for children of school-going age.
Since the inception of the programme in September 2021, over 4,900 books have been read and completed across all 25 households with an average number of 29 books being completed per day.
According to Shirley Tony Kum, Corporate Communications Manager of Vivo Energy Ghana, the project has made a significant impact.
She announced that the phase two of the project will be an outreach to the schools with the support of a Mobile Library Van, fuelled by Vivo Energy Ghana, and a lending option where heads of schools will request for the tablet to be used for a period and returned to the library for use by other schools.
The Northern Regional Minister commended Vivo Energy Ghana for demonstrating a sense of commitment towards community development beyond its core business.
The Northern Regional Director of the Ghana Library Authority, Aaron Kuwornu, lauded the initiative and called on parents and facilitators to encourage their children to make good use of the tablets. He also stated that, the library continues to find innovative ways for people to access books of their choice to read regardless of their location.
The Metro Director of Education, Tamale, Dr. Peter Attefuah, said “The project has changed the normal after-school and weekend activities of the children in a positive way. Instead of the children saying, ‘we are going to play’, the narrative now has changed to ‘we are going to read’. Parents have seen much improvement in the academic work of their children since the last trimester.”
Programmes Manager of Worldreader Ghana, Alhassan Abdul Kahad, encouraged heads of schools and households to take full advantage of the second phase of the project.