The Second Lady, Samira Bawumia, has charged students across the country to endeavour to make reading their habit.

According to her, reading has opened innumerable doors and opportunities for her, and she would want others to benefit from same.

She made the remarks when her foundation, the Samira Empowerment and Humanitarian Project (SEHP), handed over literary materials to some selected schools in three municipal and district assemblies in the Central Region.

The project, dubbed "library-in-a-box", forms part of her quest to enlighten students with the happenings in the world through reading.

Under the project, boxes filled with storybooks for different reading levels are distributed to the schools to expand access and close the literacy gap.

In order to further spark children's interest in exploring the world through stories, the Second Lady urged school administrators and teachers to open reading clubs.

Since its inception in 2017, the 'Library-In-A-Box' project has distributed over two hundred thousand (200,000) books to sixty-eight (68) basic schools across the country.

“I know that growing up, it’s the books that helped me to be who I am today. Books help you to learn about the world you haven’t traveled to. It helps you learn about societies you don’t know about. It’s your window into the world," she said.

She further told the school pupils and teachers that, “If you open a book and you read about something, you can learn and aspire to be something. You can learn about a foreign land, and you know that one day when you get there, you will know what’s in there already. So, books are a window into the world. "

She charged them to use the opportunities they have gotten to improve their literary skills, which would open the doors of the world to them.

Samira Bawumiah told the teachers and the heads of the schools that the books were not for display and that she did not want to visit the schools and see the books in their new state or untouched.

She indicates that, that will mean that the children have not been helped to read them.  

“I want you to share it with them; read it with them; create a library space for them; and also create a reading time for them,” she stated.

According to her, the books have been put in the containers to keep them safe, clean, and tidy so that they won’t get dusty and destroyed by the rain.

St. Peter’s Anglican Basic ‘A’, St. Peter’s Anglican 'B’, St. Francis Anglican Basic, St. Ann’s Anglican Basic, and the Icodex Basic school were the beneficiaries of the gesture.

While addressing the gathering, Central Regional Minister, Justina Marigold Assan, advised the pupils to stick to their books in order to become good leaders in future.

"You will become somebody in the future if you stick to your books. As teachers, we must learn to encourage the children to read the books,” she said.

Chief of Opeikuma, Nana Opei Mensah, also appealed to the Second Lady to use her influence to fix the deplorable Opeikuma town roads which according to him makes it difficult for school children commuting from Kasoa to Opeikuma.

"I am happy for the support from the Office of the Second Lady, but I would want to appeal to her to use her high office to influence the construction of the Opeikuma town roads, which are in a deplorable state.

"These school children pay exorbitant fares to get to school as a result of the bad nature of the road, and fixing the road will mean a lot to the Opeikuma community."

The MP for Awutu Senya East and Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mavis Hawa Koomson, commended the Second Lady, Samira, for coming to the aid of Kasoa Opeikuma schools with books.

The Samira Empowerment Humanitarian Project (SEHP) has also supported after-school clubs that teach children how to read, the most notable of which is Play & Learn Foundation.