World Bank supports 30 schools

Accra, Dec. 7, GNA - The World Bank on Wednesday donated 480 boxes of books worth more than 100,000 dollars to 30 educational institutions across the country. Mr Mats Karlsson, Country Director for the World Bank, said the donation was under the World Bank Family Network Book Project (WBFN) aimed at distributing books to educational institutions in developing countries. He said WBFN was a non-profit organisation, managed entirely by volunteers, who were spouses and partners of staff members or retirees of the World Bank group with support from the Civic Programme of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He said the book project had also received donations from schools, public libraries, universities and individual donors in Washington DC and other States in the United States. He said selections of beneficiaries were made through request from the institutions and individuals after they had guaranteed that they would be distributors and could handle the shipment at the port and all costs related to customs, temporary storage and inland transportation.

Mr Karlsson thanked EPP Books Services for volunteering to be a local distributor to help the project this year. Mr Gibrine Adam, President of Zenith College, which is an EPP Books Services affiliate, said EPP had also provided some books to be distributed to remote areas in the three northern regions. He said although the books were not based on Ghanaian syllabus, they would serve as supplementary reading material to help students in their academic work.

Mr Adam said although it was becoming difficult to reach some of the beneficiaries through their contacts, EPP would make sure that all beneficiaries across the country had their share. Some of the beneficiaries schools including Wa Secondary School, OLA Secondary School, Ho, Pope John's Secondary School, Koforidua and Ejisu Secondary School were present to receive their books.