The Rebecca Foundation has distributed books and shoes to pupils of the Kpone Katamanso Municipal Assembly (KKMA) Basic School in Saduase the Greater Accra Region to solve the material needs of the pupils and enhance teaching and learning.

The donation forms part of the “Learning to Read, Reading to Learn” initiative by the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo. The items, in addition to chocolate bars distributed to the pupils, provided refreshment and relief to them, as most of them come from deprived communities.

Madam Perpetual Asante, the Deputy Director in charge of Operations at the Rebecca Foundation, who represented Mrs Akufo-Addo, the Head of the Foundation, expressed the hope that the items, especially the shoes, would help solve the material needs of the pupils.

The Foundation is implementing the initiative in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service, the Ghana Library Authority and the Royal Commonwealth Society, to improve literacy among children between ages six to 15.

Madam Asante advised the pupils to use the items as tools to aid their learning process. She commended the teachers for the efforts they put in daily to ensure the physical and intellectual fortification of the children, while urging them to continue to remain professionals as they imparted knowledge to them. Madam Asante pledged the continued support of the Rebecca Foundation towards meeting the educational and health needs of mothers and their children across the country.

As part of the “Learning to Read and Reading to Learn” initiative, about 20 libraries would be built across the country preceded by a media campaign, which would actively engage children, primary caregivers and teachers in reading and comprehension exercises via television, radio and the internet.

The initiative would also feature on a pilot basis adult/child partner reading in schools through the use of volunteers and national service personnel, who would assist teachers during the Ghana Education Service approved time outlined for reading in public schools across the country.

Madam Susan Aglobitse, the Headmistress of the KKMA Basic School, thanked the First Lady for reaching out to the school, which, she said, had been deprived for a long time. She appealed for more classrooms to be built to accommodate the more than 744 pupils, who are mostly crowded in their classrooms.