16-year high school graduate builds school library centre at Gbawe Accra

A 16-year old Ghanaian high school graduate living in the United States, Samantha Boateng who has 10 scholarships to attend college, has fulfilled her dream of opening a library for the Gbawe Cluster of Schools in Accra.

A 16-year old Ghanaian high school graduate living in the United States, Samantha Boateng who has 10 scholarships to attend college, has fulfilled her dream of opening a library for the Gbawe Cluster of Schools in Accra.

As the Founder of Read2Lead, an organisation that was created to breed the next generation of leaders through reading, Ms. Boateng aided by her mother FranciscaBoateng and a project team from the New School of Northern Virginia, USA, were able to gather 14,000 books to stock the library.

Known as the New School Library Centre, the books and computers will serve the many schools in the cluster which has almost a total of 5,000 pupils and the entire community of Gbawe, Ga South Municipal Assembly.

“This library is for this community. I am happy we have been able to build it within this short time. I didn’t make it for myself or gain anything from it. I just want to encourage all the kids to use this library as much as possible.

“Come here after school and anytime. Use the computers and research and read for fun. All the books are for the kids, and I will be happy if they take full advantage of this,” Ms. Boateng said.

With support from her mother, Francisca Boateng who is also the co-founder of Speakwell Foundation, the project team plans to establish a library every year in different communities of the country to help improve the educational standards of every child.

“This is to help kids become leaders through reading. We want the community to embrace this idea, that reading changes lives and the future of children. This should be a sanctuary for them.

“The next plan is to start one in Kumasi, and we are half way through. The way forward is that every community should have a library, and we cannot do this alone. Everyone should endeavour to do one,” she added.

She noted that it is unfortunate that not many communities in Ghana have libraries, which has seen low enthusiasm when it comes to reading from the children. “In the US there are about 20 libraries in even a five-mile radius, but the same cannot be said of Ghana.”

Mrs. Boateng also used the opportunity to launch the Samuel and Francisca Boateng Scholarship, which will pay the tuition of one brilliant but needy student to the tune of GH¢1,000 annually from primary school right up to college.

She lauded the project team, her family and so many others who supported their efforts right from the beginning of this dream. “I am grateful to everyone who has supported us since we began this project.”

John Gyatsen, Headteacher of the New Gbawe MA1 Basic School, lauded the team from Read2Lead and promised to put the library to the best of use.

“We need more facilities like this. We have almost 5,000 students here, and this will go a long way to help improve the literacy levels. The library we have here is old and the books are out of date; I am happy that we have this library with very modern books.

The students will definitely be urged to read more and expand their vocabulary. The teachers and Head-teachers will work to keep the library and maintain it to the highest standards so that many children can benefit from it,” he added.

The event was well-attended by students, teachers, Head-teachers and Gbawe community leaders including the aspiring Member of Parliament of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Tina Mensah.