US-based Ghanaian professor equips alma mater with study materials, encourages reading habits

A Ghanaian associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco, Prof Jerry John Nutor, has advocated for more reading habits to be inculcated in students and in the educational structure of the country.

He explained that reading is the bedrock of success and good books form a great part of that spectrum.

Speaking to GhanaWeb at the University of Ghana School of Nursing and Midwifery, during one of a number of donation of books and educational materials to some educational institutions in the country, he said that his personal experience from schooling in Ghana and not having so many relatable books to study from prompted his desire to embark on this journey.

“This is one of the things we’ve been doing across universities and schools of nursing institutions across the country where we donated books to the University of Ghana School of Nursing and Midwifery to enhance research, teaching and what the business of the university is all about.

“We’ve donated other materials including tablets, and simulation items to other schools because we believe that books or educational materials can help our healthcare practitioners and that is why we are interested in donating these materials. When I was training here as a nurse in Ghana, one of the things we faced challenges with were books, or educational materials. There was lack of books in the libraries and so I feel it’s my obligation to give back to the community and the people of Ghana and to the training of healthcare professionals across the country,” he said.

Addressing the subject of internet use vis-à-vis studying from hardcover literature, Prof. Jerry John Nutor, who is also the President and Chairman of Push Aid Africa, said that while he advocates for electronic forms of reading, with the peculiar challenge of Ghana not having widespread, reliable internet, hardcopy books come in very handy.

“The use of the internet is very important and I’m never going to undermine internet or electronic copies of books – I actually have electronic copies of books that I giving out too, but also, the capacity of the use of the internet; accessibility in our country is a major issue. When we look at the internet, do people have fast, reliable internet? No. So, when we focus only internet or the electronic copies of books, we are eliminating some groups of people who do not have internet or other electronic copies.

“The books are readily accessible anytime and we don’t need electricity, Wi-Fi, internet to use them and reference them in an easy way. However, when people have access to internet, it is a good opportunity, they should use that because it is fast, easy and easily accessible. I am in a country where internet is readily available and very fast and I encourage people to also use it. I think physical books are going to help more,” he said.

In all, the UG School of Nursing and Midwifery took delivery of several boxes of American-standard books for their school library.

At the Pantang Nurses Training College, the Principal, Lydia Kanyo Hafoba, was grateful for the gesture and requested for tablets and desktop computers for the student to write their licensure examinations.

Receiving the books at the Pentecost University College, Dr. Timothy Oppong said the donation was timely and will significantly enhance teaching and learning at the Nursing Department.

He called for more support for the University including tablets for assessment purposes.

Prof Nutor assured them of Push Aid Africa's best support in dealing with some of the challenges facing the institutions.

Prof Jerry John also organizes an annual conference in Africa called the Africa Interdisciplinary Health Conference where he trains healthcare professionals, with an aim to bring interdisciplinary healthcare professionals together to think about healthcare delivery in Africa.





AE