Zonta Club of Accra has donated a fully furnished and fully stocked library worth GHC35,000 to a cluster of schools in the Ga East Municipality. 

The schools included Dome MA 1 & 2 and Dome Anglican 1 & 2 schools in the Dome, Taifa and Abokobi sub-Municipalities in Greater Accra.

The donation was to commemorate last year’s International Literary Day which fell on September 8, 2022. 

The theme for the celebration was: “Transforming Literacy learning spaces; Exploring opportunities and possibilities’. The theme was to help inform people of the importance of literary learning space to build inclusive education for all.

Handing over the furnished Library to the school, the President of Zonta Club of Accra, Madam Vivienne Idun-Ogde said despite a number of issues that delayed the presentation, the Club’s pressing commitment to literacy, especially in deprived communities, was paramount in seeing to bringing the laudable project to completion. 

She elaborated on the importance of literacy saying: “It is a powerful tool to eradicate poverty as well as being a strong means for social and human progress” and quoted Mr. Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General, as saying: ‘Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope.”

The Zonta President said the hope of the project was to transform education from reading materials to improving literacy, adding that a library was an essential tool in providing quality education and the promotion of a culture of reading. 

She encouraged the children to take advantage of the library to enhance their learning and education in general and to read everything that came their way, including newspapers because reading “boosts imagination, develops writing skills, exercises the brain, expand vocabulary and increase knowledge”.

She said the Club will continue to add on as and when necessary, promising a future addition of ICT equipment and accessories.

The books for restocking the Library included donations from EPP Books and Kingdom Books Ltd as well as individual ‘Zontians’.

The Headmaster of Dome Anglican 1 & 2 School, Mr. Vincent Amartey, thanked Zonta Club of Accra for the timely intervention in refurbishing and stocking the library for the cluster of schools. 

He noted that a library was important in learning institutions and referred to it as a “knowledge cathedral” where knowledge could be sought and acquired. He advised the children to take very good care of the books.

Present at the handover ceremony were; Professor Miranda Greenstreet, Past District Governor, Zonta International District 18, Executives and some members of Zonta Club of Accra, Madam Harriet Lomotey, Municipal Director of Education, PTA Executives, Circuit supervisors and the Assistant Headmaster, Mr. Gotfried Adogo.