The Africa office of The Royal Commonwealth Society, a primary organisation within the Commonwealth fraternity, has partnered with the First Lady of Ghana, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo to promote Literacy across schools in Ghana.

The partnership, will over the next few years, see literacy levels amongst young people rise exponentially.

As part of the partnership, state of the art libraries will be built across selected areas and will be filled with amazing books.

Speaking to Myjoyonline.com, Mr. John Kojo Apea, Head of the Africa Office, stated that “Literacy is a factor that cuts across all social problems, from health and poverty, to homelessness and crime. In this sense, literacy is a major pillar for development”.

He added that a literacy partnership with the Office of The First Lady and other partners such as The Ghana Library Authority, is perfect because “it feeds into one of our flagship literacy interventions The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition, which has been running since 1883”.

Mr. Apea urged the private sector and other international organisations to leverage on their respective Corporate Social Responsibility plans, and help the Office of the First Lady and the Commonwealth achieve its objections.

Explaining the rationale for The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition, Mr Apea said it is an opportunity for students, especially in deprived schools to express their creative abilities through writing.

It was founded by The Royal Commonwealth Society in 1883 and is the world’s oldest international schools writing contest sponsored by the Cambridge University Press.

Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth of Nations is an intergovernmental organisation of 53 member states that are mostly former territories of the British Empire. The Chief institutions of the organisation are the Commonwealth Secretariat, The Royal Commonwealth Society and The Commonwealth Foundation. It is home to over 2.4 billion people, 60% of whom are under the age of 30.