OLE Ghana hands over Ghana Reads to Ga West Municipality

An educational awareness program which inculcates in children the use of technology in promoting reading and  delivery of quality basic education is ongoing in the Ga West Municipality of the Greater Accra Region.

Known as the Ghana Reads programme and developed by the Open Learning Exchange (OLE) Ghana, it is an approach that accelerates literacy significantly among children.

It involves deploying a low-cost digital pocket sized school library replete with high quality open education resources that will enable pupils, guided by their teachers and with the help of expert coaches become literate

The program which started as a pilot in 2013 in 10 schools can now be found in 38 schools, 15 of which are in the Ga West municipality.

The program has so far impacted over a 10,000 pupils and has a presence in 8 local council areas in 5 out of the 10 regions in Ghana with support from World Vision Ghana

Handing over the program after the pilot phase to the Municipal Authorities of Ga West Assembly and its Educational directorate to assume full responsibility, the Executive Director of OLE Ghana, Mr. Kofi E. N. Essien pledged his outfit's commitment to still partner the Municipality to sustain the program.

“Ensuring kids have proper and quality education is a shared responsibility for all as such, as an organization we will continue to provide resources, technical support, provide capacity building and work with the Municipality to also raise funds to sustain and grow the program", he said.

Mr. Essien commended the Ga West Municipality and its Educational directorate for accepting the program which he hoped would go a long way to improve the quality of education in the municipality.

Present at the event were top Executives of the Ga West Municipality and Stakeholders in the Educational sector.

They included the Municipal Chief Executive, Samuel Attuquaye Quaye, the Municipal Director of Education, Mr. Budu Asiedu and Prof. Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, the Executive Chair of OLE Ghana who is a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Winneba.

Mr. Budu Asiedu said the Ghana reads program have shaped the kids.

 “it has made them punctual at school, improved on their written and oral English as such we will hold it well to ensure it is sustained", he revealed.

He thanked OLE Ghana for the support, stressing that the investment in child education will go a long way to impact positively on the economy since the kids are the future leaders of the country.

Prof Anamuah-Mensah on his part noted that the realization of quality education for proper human resource development lies in building a proper foundation with reading being a core element.

He urged the Municipality to give proper attention to the Ghana reads program to safeguard the future well being of the kids.