The Eastern Regional Library in partnership with the Atiwa West District Assembly and Education Directorate has introduced the Cocoa Community Literacy Intervention (CCLI) which is to run from August to December in its first phase.
This initiative is premised on the unavailability of libraries in the district with 60% of the population primarily into agriculture with cocoa as the major produce.
The literacy intervention aims at making reading materials readily available to pupils in all basic schools in the district to help eradicate learning poverty. The Mobile Library Van is instrumental in this project and stocked with over 10,000 age-appropriate books.
At the beginning of the project, over 4,000 children were provided with reading materials for home reading. These books will be replaced bi-weekly with some others being kept in the schools to enable these children to select from in the absence of the mobile library team.
At the end of the first phase, it is expected that over 10,000 children would benefit from thousands of reading materials thereby helping improve their literacy and interest in reading.
The Head of Mobile and Extensions Unit, Elijah Assumang who represented the Regional Director at the brief launch appreciated the District Assembly and Education Directorate for their interest in the pupils of the various communities.
He mentioned that, all other MMDAs should adopt this strategy in the region to help improve the literacy rate in the Eastern region.
Mr. Assumang further encouraged the children to handle the books with care and assured them of prizes in December for best and improved readers.
The District Director of Education, John Sarfo appreciated the Ghana Library Authority for the partnership to help improve literacy in the Atiwa West District.
The Ghana Library Authority earlier this year declared 2023 as the year of digital reading. This declaration is anchored by five core objectives with Literacy Intervention as the core.
Several literacy initiatives have been introduced nationwide to help eradicate learning poverty.
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