Deloitte Ghana, with support from Spring-Up Global Network, has commissioned its 8th library at Aburi in the Eastern region to promote literacy among children.

The project started in November 2022 with the commissioning of the first library at the Osu Cluster of Schools in the Greater Accra region.

Speaking at the commissioning of the Aburi Cluster of Schools library, Daniel Kwadwo Owusu, Country Managing Partner of Deloitte Ghana, said the library project is important to the firm’s community initiative of ‘Making Impact that Matters’ and aligns with the Sustainable Development Goal 4 of the United Nations, which simply promotes ‘Quality Education’.

Aligned with Deloitte’s WorldClass initiative, Mr Owusu said Deloitte has been committed to creating better futures for the next generation and making a positive social and economic impact across our beloved Ghana.

“We have collaborated with Spring-Up Global Network to refurbish and restock libraries in the eight clusters of schools across five regions in Ghana. They are Osu and Kwashieman Cluster of Schools in the Greater Accra; Adweso Cluster of Schools at Koforidua and Aburi Cluster of Schools in the Eastern region; Achiase Cluster of Schools in the Central region; State Experimental Basic School and Konongo Mines M/A Basic School in the Ashanti region and more recently the Hohoe East Cluster of Schools in the Volta Region. Twenty-three thousand, three hundred and nineteen children have been directly impacted by this innovative and purposeful project. We will continue to drive this purpose and make an impact that matters for the broader society”, he added.

He continued, “The heart of Deloitte as a firm is the drive to live our purpose beyond profit and to nurture the next generation of global leaders. The occasion is therefore not merely about inaugurating a library, but about our commitment to expanding access to educational opportunities for kids across the country”.

GES implements educational interventions to ensure quality education

For his part, the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Dr. Eric Nkansah, said the Ghana Education Service has, over the years, been implementing educational interventions and initiatives consistent with its mandate of ensuring that it delivers quality, inclusive, holistic, and relevant education to achieve improved learning outcomes for the benefit of all Ghanaian children of school-going age without any discrimination.

“Our work impacts every home; thus, we uphold the values of partnerships and collaboration to ensure we work with all stakeholders to achieve our objectives”, he pointed out.

He applauded Deloitte and Spring-UP Global Network for playing a significant role in transforming the educational landscape, saying, “Through their diligent efforts and work with us, I am pleased to learn that within 20 months, the Deloitte World Class Initiative has provided eight libraries with over 9,400 books and impacted over 23,000 learners across five regions in Ghana.

In addition to providing the infrastructure that will serve as a hub for intellectual exploration and academic excellence, Dr. Nkansah expressed confidence that these libraries will empower the students to broaden their horizons, deepen their understanding of diverse subjects, and cultivate critical thinking skills essential to succeed in the 21st century.

He assured Deloitte and Spring-Up Global that the schools will uphold the highest level of maintenance to preserve the libraries for generations, adding, “This facility will change this district for the good!”

Spring-Up to continue to make libraries available, accessible to children to boost literacy

The Executive Director of Spring-Up Global Network, Akorfa Ama Akoto, said, the partnership between Deloitte and her outfit has not only brought them closer to their shared goal of promoting literacy but has also made a significant impact on the lives of thousands of children in Ghana, “a testament to our collective efforts”.

She mentioned that “The commissioning of today’s library [Aburi] increases our impact to 23,319 learners in our first year of implementation. This means that more children are benefiting from the initiative than the initial target of 16,000 for all eight libraries in the first year. On behalf of the entire SUGN [Spring Up Global Network] team, I want to commend Deloitte for funding this project and continuously supporting the SUGN Project team to achieve this feat”.

She applauded the Ghana Education Service, including Regional, Municipal and District Directorates, for giving all their support needed to achieve and exceed the target of this initiative, adding, “To the learners who are the reason for this project, we thank you for making the best use of the libraries”.

“As an NGO working in the education sector, we believe that making libraries available and accessible to children is a key step to improving literacy and supporting local and global efforts in bridging learning poverty in schools. Because of the school library being inaugurated today, I am confident that the children will develop a good reading culture, which will translate into better learning outcomes”, she stressed.

The Aburi Cluster of Schools library is a 50-seater capacity library stocked with 1,100 books, mainly African-authored, on topics such as literature, personal development, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The library also has a reading floor for learners in the early grades.