GCGL, Money-Gram collaborate on education improvement

The Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) last Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with MoneyGram money transfer to distribute 20 thousand free copies of the Junior Graphic newspaper to children in deprived areas.
The initiative, which is aimed at inculcating the habit of reading in children, will also assist those in rural areas with education materials to enhance effective teaching and learning.

At a meeting held to formalise the collaboration, the Managing Director of the GCGL, Mr Kenneth Ashigbey, said the distribution of the free copies of the newspaper was also to help revive the reading culture among children which was gradually fading away.

He added that if many people were encouraged to read, education would be more flexible as many people would be knowledgeable about issues in the country.

The Editor of the Junior Graphic, Mrs Mavis Kitcher, said the initiative was also to help reduce the illiteracy rate in the country as many children currently lagged behind in education because of limited literacy skills.

She said the letters that children addressed to the Junior Graphic attested to the fact that poor reading habit affected their education hence the joint initiative to improve upon the situation.

Mrs Kitcher added that giving out copies to individual children would give the children ample time to read the paper extensively as they would take them home.

She also expressed the hope that the initiative would be continuous and not short-lived in order to realise its full effect on educating children, as the newspaper was used as a teaching material in many schools, especially where textbooks were scarce.

The initiative runs along the MoneyGram’s back to school promotion which has been labelled “Awaa waa school” for over six weeks.

During the same period, there is an essay competition that would help schoolchildren to contest to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding of issues and competence through writing.

The organisers of the competition would give out education endowment and cash prizes worth GH¢150,000 as reward to outstanding competitors and winners.

For his part, the Senior Marketing Executive of MoneyGram, Mr Kofi Akyea, said MoneyGram was collaborating with the GCGL on this initiative because of the company’s credibility in relaying information.

He said as the leading newspaper which was sometimes a reference point of research, MoneyGram could not have overlooked the company on this education journey.

He affirmed that the initiative was not a one-off event but rather one which had been introduced to improve education over a long period of time.

He used the opportunity to advise children to read wide even outside their curriculum to improve their skills and be informed on matters arising in society.

Mr Kenneth Ashigbey and Mrs Mavis Kitcher signed the memorandum on the behalf of the GCGL while Mr Kofi Akyea and Mr Ato Baiden, the Client Service Manager of Admedia FCB, signed on behalf of MoneyGram.

By Ruby Efe Ani Adjei/Daily Graphic/Ghana