Mobile library project in Ashanti suffers setback

Mrs. Rebecca Akita, the Ashanti Regional Librarian, said the mobile library project, initiated three years ago to bring library and internet services to particularly school children in the “hard-to-reach” rural communities in the region, has suffered a setback due to funding.

He said in Ashanti, the services had been extended to only two areas outside Kumasi - the Adansi-North and Asante-Akim South Districts.

Mrs. Akita told the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi that although mobile vans, stocked with books and computers, where “ready to hit the road running”, lack of funds had become a major hurdle.

She said there was the need to tackle the problem to allow for smooth operation of the mobile library to help the people, especially school children, to cultivate reading habit. Mrs. Akita appealed to school authorities not to overburden school children with extra-classes but to create space for them to do private studies.