Library, ICT lab built for Afari Presby basic school
Sanitation & Literacy Ghana (SALG), a non-governmental organisation, has constructed and handed over a modern library and ICT centre to the Afari community in the Atwima Nwabiagya Municipality in Ashanti Region.
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The well-stocked library was named after the former chief of Afari, Oheneba Acheampong Akwasi II, in memory of the co-founder of the NGO which focuses on education and sanitation.
The ICT lab has WIFI connection and laptops to aid in research activities for the pupils.
Objective
Speaking at the inauguration, the co-founder of SALG, Rosemond Sarpong Owens, said the objective of the gesture was to improve on literacy and the pupils’ performance in their external examinations.
She said SALG had identified the lack of accessible libraries as a major hurdle, particularly in rural areas, where students went through their educational journey without ever setting foot in a library.
The interior of the computer laboratory
“SALG aims to change this narrative by establishing libraries and providing easy access to a variety of books in public schools and communities,” she said. Over the years, she said SALG had distributed over 10 forty-foot containers of books to schools, libraries, orphanages and various institutions across Ghana to address the literacy crisis in the country.
The Ashanti Regional Librarian, Ofosu Frimpong, was grateful to SALG for building and stocking the library for the community. He said the government alone could not meet the needs of every community and would need the support of Ghanaians and encouraged other philanthropists to emulate SALG’s gesture.
“For us at the Ghana Library Authority, our mission is to connect Ghanaians to knowledge resources and if you look at the number of districts we have in Ashanti Region and compared to the number of community libraries, it is woefully inadequate.
“So, it is exciting news to us. This is going to be the 20th library which we manage. The government alone cannot set up libraries that is why we normally fall on individuals and philanthropists to assist us,” he said.
