Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has inaugurated a state-of-the- art library and Information Communication Technology Hub at Akyem Oda in the Birim Central Municipality of the Eastern Region.
Named Christiana Akua Brago Diawuo Library and Technology Hub, the facility was built by the Minister of Communication and Digitisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, in honour of her mother.
The library would serve as a learning hub and valuable resource centre for schools in the area and provide students with access to virtual learning experiences, help them improve teaching and learning, as well as allow them to connect with others across the globe.
The initiative was supported by the Ghana Library Authority, MTN Ghana, Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC), and Huawei Ghana.
Commissioning the facility, Vice President, Dr Bawumia, stated that education was essential to the development of the country, adding that through education and knowledge acquisition, the country would have the necessary human resource to help it develop.
“That is why the government has taken education as the most important priority which we are working with. That is the reason we introduced the Free Senior High School Education policy, Technical Vocational Education, building libraries; and all these show we have priority in education so that we can build our future leaders up to help develop the country,” Dr Bawumia said.
He revealed that since the inception of the Free SHS initiative, about 400, 000 students who were previously not able to attend school, have been given the opportunity to do so through the pro-poor policy.
“Through the initiative, we have also achieved gender parity between boys and girls in schools at the SHS level,” he said and appealed to parents to ensure that the children continued education from the JHS level to the SHS and tertiary levels “so that they can emulate the kind gesture of the Minister of Communication, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful”.
He said digitisation was essential to drive the economy of the country, adding it was important to start teaching the future leaders of the country and improve them digitally to be able to drive the economy of the country.
The library, the Vice President said has all the digital tools for the learning of the pupils and students and would help improve teaching and learning.
The Minister for Communications and Digitisation, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful said the library was to mark the 80th birthday celebration of her mother and stated that education was key to the development of an individual.
She hoped that the children in the area would take the opportunity and use the library to their advantage.
She indicated that the area for the library was chosen strategically to benefit all schools in and around the area and thanked the chiefs and all stakeholders for the support.
The Executive Director of Ghana Library Authority, Mr Hayford Siaw, said about 55 libraries have been commissioned within a period of six years the NPP government came to power, adding that that and other government interventions in the area of education showed government’s priority to educating the future leaders of the country and hence would do more in the area to improve the country’s future human resource.
For his part, the CEO of GIFEC, Mr Prince Ofosu Sefah, said his outfit since its inception in 2004 has provided innovative solutions to ensure universal access and digital inclusion in the remotest parts of the country and would continue to provide for government and other agencies to promote and encourage maximum use of ICT centres in the country.
Director of Enterprise Business at Huawei said his outfit does not take it lightly its commitment to providing access to digital education for all and hope that their contribution would not only provide a new and innovative way for the library to reach and engage its users but would also inspire other organisations to explore the power of technology for the betterment of society.
FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN, AKYEM ODA
