The Samira Empowerment and Humanitarian Project has presented over 200,000 books to over 68 basic schools across the country as part of efforts to improve the literary skills of basic school students.
The project, dubbed “library in a box” according to the Second Lady, will also enlighten students about what is happening around the world.
The St. Peters Anglican Basic A, and B, St. Francis Anglican Basic School, the St. Ann’s Anglican Basic and Icodex Basic school are among the 68 schools across the country that have benefited from the Second Lady’s reading initiative.
According to Samira Bawumia, books are part of imparting knowledge and enlightenment, thus urging basic school students to inculcate the habit of reading.
Speaking to Citi News after presenting some books to basics schools at Opeikuma in the Awutu Senya East Municipality, Samira Bawumia explained the rationale behind the project and urged teachers to ensure that students read books to improve their literary skills.
“My office is bent on imparting knowledge and one of our flagship projects is the library in a box project, which is a program which supports schools with reading books. I know that growing up, it was books like this that helped me become who I am today. Books are your window into the world so never mind where you are because if you open a book, and you read about something you can learn and aspire to be something,” the Second Lady said.
“The teachers MUST ensure that the students read the books. Create reading clubs to motivate the children to read. I don’t want to come back to see the books new and not worn out. Dedicate at least 20 to 30 minutes of your time to read,” the Second Lady advised.
Central Regional Minister Marigold Assan, while addressing the gathering, advised the students to stick to their books to become good leaders in future.
“You will become somebody in future if you stick to your books, so learn hard. As teachers, we must learn to encourage the children to read the books that have been donated.”
Chief of Opeikuma, Nana Opei Mensah also appealed to the Second Lady to use her influence to fix the deplorable Opeikuma town roads.
“I am happy for the support from the office of the second lady, but I would want to appeal to her to use her high office to influence the construction of the Opeikuma town road which is in a deplorable state. These school children pay exorbitant transport fares to get to school as a result of the bad nature of the road, and fixing the road will mean a lot to the Opeikuma community”, Nana Opei Mensah said.
