A GH¢125,000 State Insurance Company (SIC) sponsored JOYFM READ 100 Community Library Project has been inaugurated in Ho.
The new Community Library, cited on the premises of the E.P. Church, Ho-Kpodzi cluster of schools, is expected to augment the Ho Municipal Library, which operates from the former Girls’ Home Science premises located at the Ho-Bankoe E.P. Junior High School.
The Ho Regional Library is under construction.
The library is stocked with 300 books worth GH¢1,000 provided by Mr Benjamin Kpodo, Member of Parliament for Ho-Central.
The SIC also provided books valued at GH¢2,000 while Afram Publications also gave out some books.
Mrs Dora Awo Nkani, Managing Director of SIC said the library is meant to be a sanctuary for children away from the streets, to read, improve upon their reading skills, build their confidence in writing and speaking the English Language, as well as whet their appetite for higher academic pursuits.
Max Cobbinah, Chairman of the Board of SIC, said the library was an investment in the long-term development of human resource for the company and the country.
He said the company is ready to transform the library into an electronic facility to catch up with the rest of the country.
Mr Kpodo said the library is crucial to solve the problem of poor academic performance in the constituency.
He said a research conducted by the World Bank indicated that only 23-30 per cent of children around the age three years in the constituency are able to read, describing the situation as “very dangerous for the future”.
Mr Kpodo appealed to SIC and other partners to provide more of such community libraries in other parts of the constituency.
