Spring-Up Global Network (SUGN) and Deloitte have inaugurated the 8th library under the Deloitte WorldClass Initiative in Ghana at Aburi in the Eastern Region to promote literacy among children.
The project, which is funded by Deloitte, started in September 2022 with the inauguration of the first library at the Osu Cluster of Schools in November 2022 in the Greater Accra Region.
BENEFICIARY SCHOOLS
The projects involve the repurposing of empty classrooms into libraries, which have been refurbished and restocked in eight clusters of schools across five regions.
The beneficiary schools are the Osu and Kwashieman Cluster of Schools in the Greater Accra; Adweso Cluster of Schools at Koforidua and Aburi Cluster of Schools in the Eastern region; Achiase Cluster of Schools in the Central region.
The rest are the State Experimental Basic School and Konongo Mines M/A Basic School in the Ashanti region and more recently the Hohoe East Cluster of Schools in the Volta Region.
In all, a total of 23,319 children have been directly impacted by this innovative and purposeful project.
COMMITMENT OF GES
Inauguration the Aburi Cluster of Schools library, the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr. Eric Nkansah, pledged the commitment of the service to implement various interventions and initiatives to improve learning outcomes.
He said the GES was determined in consistent with its mandate of ensuring that it delivers quality, inclusive, holistic, and relevant education to achieve improved learning outcomes for the benefit of all Ghanaian children of school-going age without any discrimination.
“Our work impacts every home; thus, we uphold the values of partnerships and collaboration to ensure we work with all stakeholders to achieve our objectives”, he pointed out.
He applauded Deloitte and Spring-UP Global Network for playing a significant role in transforming the educational landscape.
“Through their diligent efforts and work with us, I am pleased to learn that within 20 months, the Deloitte World Class Initiative has provided eight libraries with over 9,400 books and impacted over 23,000 learners across five regions in Ghana.”
Dr. Nkansah expressed confidence that the libraries would empower the students to broaden their horizons, deepen their understanding of diverse subjects, and cultivate critical thinking skills essential to succeed in the 21st century.
He assured Deloitte and Spring-Up Global that the schools would uphold the highest level of maintenance to preserve the libraries for generations, adding, “this facility will change this district for the good!”
SHARED GOALS
The Executive Director of SUGN Akorfa Ama Akoto, said the partnership between Deloitte and her outfit had not only brought them closer to their shared goal of promoting literacy, but also made a significant impact on the lives of thousands of children in Ghana, “a testament to our collective efforts”.
She said the inauguration of the 8th library increased “our impact to 23,319 learners in our first year of implementation. This means that more children are benefiting from the initiative than the initial target of 16,000 for all eight libraries in the first year.
“On behalf of the entire SUGN team, I want to commend Deloitte for funding this project and continuously supporting the SUGN Project team to achieve this feat,” Ms Akoto said.
She applauded the GES, for giving all the support needed to achieve and exceed the target of the initiative, adding, “To the learners who are the reason for this project, we thank you for making the best use of the libraries”.
For his part, the Country Managing Partner of Deloitte Ghana, Daniel Kwadwo Owusu said the library project was important to the firm’s community initiative of ‘Making Impact that Matters’ and aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG4), which simply promoted quality education.
Aligned with Deloitte’s WorldClass initiative, Mr Owusu said Deloitte had been committed to creating better futures for the next generation and making a positive social and economic impact across our beloved Ghana.
