Girls in deprived communities in the rural parts of northern Ghana, have challenges with reading, due to the lack of exposure to books during their elementary days, mostly due to their background.
Many of these girls under perform in class and this makes failure become a part of them throughout their education and career.
It is in this light that the Savannah Women Integrated Development Agency (SWIDA – Gh), has provided support to 600 girls from 11 schools in the Tamale Metropolitan and the Sagnarigu Municipal areas to register with the Ghana Library Authority in the Northern Region.
This move, according to the Executive Director for SWIDA – Gh, Hajia Alimah Sagito – Saeed, is to help the young girls find their feet in reading, which will go a long way to help them improve their academic performance.
Hajia Alimah said it is no fault of the girls that they mostly come from rural communities, which is why society has the responsibility to cater for them in this area, for them to become better adults and contribute to nation building.
The support extended to the girls, is part of activities on SWIDA – Ghana’s Women – LEAD project, funded by Plan Ghana.
The main objective for the activity is to improve literacy for girls’ empowerment, which is slso in partnership with the northern regional Ghana Library Authority.
The project provides opportunity and access to the registered pupils to borrow and carry story books home, read them and share the lessons with their colleagues and friends for better learning.
swidagh.org 