Four students of the SOS-Hermann Gmeiner International College (HGIC) have donated books to the Nsarawa Dansoman Cluster of Schools as part of their community service project.

The initiative undertaken by the four students – namely Nana Ahenfua Dankwa, Papa Yaw Amoako-Atuobi, Jake Darkoh and Maame Afua Asabea Yeboah – is centred on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), goal 4.

The students donated about 400 reading material ranging from fiction, non-fiction, adventure, mathematics, English and French among others to the Dansoman Cluster of Schools’ library.  The donation included material for students at all levels – Grade one to Junior High School.

Prior to the donation, they held a clean-up exercise at the library, arranged books on the shelves and afterwards engaged some of students of the school in a reading exercise.

The move aims to promote a culture of reading and literacy among the less privileged in society.

The school’s headmaster, Emmanuel Mboripa Bachuri, described the gesture as remarkable and a timely intervention, since the students desire to read but do not have access to enough books.

“It is a remarkable activity. We lack a lot of things in the library. The children want to read and the books they have donated will help. The have also arranged the library to make it easily accessible, so I commend them for the support,” he said.

Ms. Dankwa explained that the team began their project at the beginning of June by relying on their network, specifically friends and families. She said getting access to the books was quite challenging, because people were ready to support them but how to transport the books became difficult.

“Getting all the reading material was actually difficult – because people were eager to share the books but did not support the idea of transporting them in person to us. So we were proactive and decided to collect the books from them with the aid of dispatch rider,” she added.

On why the team selected Dansoman Basic School, Papa Yaw explained that as a resident in Dansoman he noticed the poor state of the school’s library although the school is one of the biggest public schools within the community, hence the drive to donate books and improve conditions in the library.

Mr. Bachuri underscored the importance of reading, saying it helps students to attain the highest height on the educational ladder.

“For children to attain the highest levels in education, they need to read a lot; and without the availability of books, this is impossible. This effort will help them have enough to read, and that will help them in their quest to be successful academically. We are so grateful for this kind gesture, and hope to see more of such activity in the school to help us.”

Similarly, School Improvement Support Officer of Dansoman Cluster of Schools, Agnes Felicia Amuzu, expressed excitement about the four students’ project, noting: “It is a wonderful deed by them, because the school has a small library with few books”.

She also called on other institutions and well-meaning individuals to come to the school’s aid.

While Maame Afua expressed excitement about meeting new people and learning from them, Jake believes the step they have taken will inculcate the culture of reading into the students at Dansoman Cluster of Schools.

The exercise undertaken by the four students is their first project, and they intend to do more by raising funds to replace roofing systems in some institutions within their communities.