The $3.2 million Children’s Library initiated and constructed by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to promote education and reading among children, was yesterday handed over to the Ghana Library Authority (GLA).
The facility located at the Airport Residential Area, near Kawukudi Junction in Nima, which started in 2015 was completed last year.
The multi-purpose one-story library, equipped with modern technological equipment to help the visually and hearing impaired also use the facility, is stocked with about 22,000 books.
In addition to the physical library, SSNIT also handed over a mobile library facility to the GLA.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony witnessed by the board members of SSNIT and officials of Ministry of Education and the GLA as well as pupils from schools from Kanda, the Director-General of SSNIT, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, said SSNIT had been involved in education over the years.
He said SSNIT started the Students Loan Scheme, which was later handed over to the Students Loans Trust and also financed the construction of students’ hostels and some community schools in some parts of the country.
Dr Ofori-Tenkorang indicated that the state-of-the-art library facility was to help children to learn and discover themselves for the development of the country.
“We believe that we need educated population, in order to get a good workforce, and, therefore, SSNIT this year launched supplementary readers developed in conjunction with the Ghana Education Service, to bring social security education to children at the younger age,” he said.
The Director-General said the supplementary readers would help children to learn about social security and retirement planning.
Dr Ofori-Tenkorang described the facility as ultra-modern because everything about the facility such as registration to use the library as well as searching for books, was computerised.
In addition, he said the library had facilities for the visually and hearing impaired to read and learn, conference rooms, computer room, first aid room and media viewing room.
Asked of the cost of the facility, he said about $3.9 million was budgeted for the project, but between $3.1 and $3.2 million was used to complete the project.
The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Adu-Twum, in a speech read on his behalf by the Director of Pre-Tertiary Education at the Ministry of Education, Nana Baffour Awuah, said education remained a priority of the government, most importantly, Pre-Tertiary education.
He commended the SSNIT for financing the construction of the Children and Mobile Library for use by children from two years to the pre-tertiary level.
Dr Adu-Twum entreated the GLA to take good care of the facility to benefit the not children around the Airport Residential Area, and the country as a whole.
The Chief Executive Officer of GLA, Hayford Siaw said the new Children and Mobile Library, which had the capacity to serve 169 pupils, brought to 61 new libraries constructed around the country since 2016 and 14 in Greater Accra Region.