Rotary Club of Osu Oxford Street launches reading club
The Rotary Club of Accra, Osu Oxford Street, last Saturday launched a reading club at Tenashie Cluster of Schools in Accra to inculcate a habit of reading in pupils and students.
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The club, christened “Read to Lead,” was also meant to improve the literacy skills of the students, as well as improve on their leadership abilities.
At the launch, a number of books were presented to pupils and students at the Tenashie ‘A’ and ‘B’ Primary and Junior High Schools (JHS) as part of the club’s commitment to realising its objectives.
It included story books written by Delali Amega, a Ghanaians author.
Purpose
The Public Relations and Fundraising Director of the club, Mrs Effie Cooke, expressed optimism that the gesture would also help alleviate the financial burden of parents in buying books for their children.
According to her, the club had made similar donations to the cluster of schools last year.
However, she said to ensure the effective utilisation of the reading materials, the club decided to establish the Read to Lead to imbibe a reading habit in the schoolchildren
“As a club, we recognise that to have the impact on literacy we seek to achieve, donating books to children alone was not enough. We, therefore, have to find a way to help the children develop and cultivate the habit of reading to help build their literacy skills,” she added.
She said the donation formed part of the club’s 2017/2018 Rotary Service Project, focused on helping pupils and students from basic schools from low-income households to improve on their literacy skills.
Mrs Effie Cooke launching the "Read to Lead Club" at Tenashie Cluster of Schools at Osu Ako Adjei. Picture: INNOCENT K. OWUSU.
“The choice of this project is in line with Rotary’s commitment to promoting education in our communities,” Mrs Cooke stated.
To motivate the schoolchildren to make use of the materials, she said, the members of the club would schedule meetings with the beneficiary schools during which they would personally engage the children and assess their reading and writing skills.
“Besides, the club will run various reading and writing competitions aimed at encouraging the children to read regularly,” the director added.
According to her, the club would offer similar donations to other schools within Osu as it took steps to deepen its relationship with the Education Directorate.
Appreciation
Receiving the items, the Headteachers of Tenashie’ A’ and ‘B’ primary and JHS, Mrs Judith Konney Otum and Michael Kwabla Odonkor, respectively, thanked the club for their support.
They assured members of the club that they would ensure the books were put to judicious use.