Telecommunication giant; MTN Ghana has cut sod to reconstruct a new school building for Street Academy and also provide a study area with computers and books for the children.

The cutting of the sod took place today at the launch of its annual 21 day employee volunteer initiative dubbed Y’ello Care in Accra on Monday, June 5 under the theme ‘Invest in Education for All’.

The 21 Days of Y’ello Care is an annual staff volunteer programme that runs across the MTN Group from 1st to 21st June. It was instituted 10 years ago and has grown to become one of the key activities on the MTN calendar.

Corporate Services Executive at MTN Ghana; Cynthia Lumor said the Y’ello Care project is to give MTN staff an opportunity to brighten lives through volunteer work by supporting deprived communities financially as well as with other resources.

She further explained that the important aspect of the theme is its focus on education driven by technology and with the rapid advances in technology and increasing digitization, MTN believes infusing technology into the educational system can help bridge development gap and extend educational opportunities to students in underserved communities.

According to her, the bulk investment of MTN is education because that is the only way of eliminating poverty in the country.

“Education is the beginning and end of how we move beyond our circumstances. So when we help educate children, when we provide capacity building, when we ensure that students get the benefits of the education that they are supposed to get, that is the beginning of the journey towards eliminating poverty and MTN is doing a lot in that regard. The bulk of our investment is education” she said.

In line with the theme, MTN volunteers will undertake various activities across the country to promote and encourage the use of technology during the 21 days of Y’ello Care.

The activities are as follows;

1. Refurbish the school building of Street Academy and provide a study area with computers and books.

2. Run Reading Clinics in selected schools across the three business districts. That is South East, South West and Northern Business Districts will be involved in reading, storytelling, writing and drawing at St Francis of Assisi Primary & JHS; Sunyani, Bagabaga Demonstration School; Tamale and Community Special Vocational School at Kumasi. Others include Presec and Kwashieman cluster of schools; Accra, Tarkwa cluster of schools, Mannford cluster of schools and Essikado cluster of schools.

3. MTN volunteers will also hold capacity training for teachers in selected special schools and create a common area for teachers at Dzorwulu Special School, Garden City Special School and Wa School for the Blind.

4. MTN will be making available online supplementary reading materials for La Nativity Presby Basic School, Ridge JHS in Tamale, Adako Jachie MA Primary School in Kumasi, Anafo Bisis Primary JHS in Bongo, Aggrey Memorial SHS in Cape Coast and Baaglo Binen JHS in the Volta Region.