Tamale, July 18, GNA – Vivo Energy Ghana in collaboration with Worldreader and Northern Regional Directorate of the Ghana Library Authority has launched the second phase of the Vivo Energy Community Digital Literacy project to improve reading skills of schoolchildren.
The project, launched in Tamale, aimed to target selected deprived schools, and enroll more school children to access relevant educational content, improve their reading skills and assist mitigate the learning loss caused by school closures during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was also to complement the government’s efforts towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal four, which sought to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong opportunities for all.”
Mrs Shirley Tony Kum, Corporate Communications Manager of Vivo Energy Ghana Limited, who read a speech on behalf of Mr Kader Maiga, Managing Director of Vivo Energy Ghana Limited, said the second phase of the project was as a result of the significant impact of the phase one of the project, which was launched on the 9th of September, last year.
She said phase two was to expand the scope to reach out to more school children in the municipality to enable them access relevant educational content and to improve their reading skills.
She stated that since the inception of the programme last year, over 4,900 books have been read and completed with an average number of 29 books being completed per day by the beneficiaries of the programme.
Mrs Tony Kum said that 25 households within the Tamale Metropolis were selected for the first phase of the project and all households were assigned with a BookSmart Tablet, which gave the households unlimited access to Ghana Education Service-approved reading books for children of school-going age.
She noted that the phase two of the project will be an outreach in schools with the support of the Mobile Library Van fueled by Shell Fuel Save and a Lending Option,where heads of schools could request for the tablet to be used for a period and returned to the library to be used by other schools.
Mr Aaron Kuwornu, Northern Regional Director of Ghana Library Authority appealed to stakeholders to continue to promote implementation of various initiatives, to help improve the literacy rate in the country.
He announced that Ghana Library Authority was now operating in a digital system with technology and encouraged parents and guardians to register their children for the library’s activities to enhance their knowledge.
Mr Abdul-Kahad Alhassan, Programme Manager of Worldreader stated that the project had so far improved the children’s reading performance in their schools.
He said the project had helped the children to cultivate the habit of reading and also improved their knowledge in ICT lessons as well.
Dr Peter Attafuah, Northern Regional Director of Education, urged parents and guardians to support their children to read more modern books at home as part of the development of skills and urged parents to invest in buying more learning materials for their children to promote their knowledge to become better people in future.
As part of the second phase, 10 additional reading tablets were presented to the library to enroll more pupils.
Facilitators and pupils were rewarded with a branded backpack with educational materials and souvenirs for their commitment during the first phase of the project.
GNA