Books for Kids Ghana Africa

Memo: 8th Quarterly Report CSAG Footprint Books for Kids Org #68120

Summary: The recovery from the COVID pandemic continues to roll out and has not run it course yet. School has not yet returned to normal. Classes are hap hazard and scheduled around recurring outbreaks; what teaching is done is outdoors. The third shipment of 2200 books has been purchased and is waiting for packing and shipment. Apart from the lack of availability and affordability for shipping containers is the reluctance of the Ghana NGOs to receive more books at this time. They would prefer to wait for normalization of school schedules before accepting more learning material. Very little progress can be reported on the temporary school and there is no progress on repair and preparation. Again with all teaching activities at a standstill it's difficult to focus attention of the community on a facility whose use seems to be far away in the future. Unfortunately with the pandemic still coming in waves and global shipping disrupted this quarter's report has its share negative updates. But there are some bright spots.

1. CSAG 3d Shipment Status; Spring of 2022 – Books for Africa will hopefully be sending out 2200 books to Ghana sometime this spring. Our facilitator in Ghana selected the reading materials and those have been set aside. Packing has yet to begin and we'll start when a firm shipping date is at hand. Outdoor teaching continues in most cases and full class attendance has not been continuous. The majority of the in country NGO's have elected not to receive books at this time. Further aggravating the conditions is the dramatic increase in cost for shipping containers. One advantage and the blessing to a delay in shipping the books because of the pandemic will be to allow the cost of freight for containers to drop to more normal levels. But The books have been purchased and set aside and the 3d shipment should arrive sometime the first half of this year.
   
2. TEMP Library Books for Kids Ghana and Japanese Embassy Application for New Building – Why a Library is needed. Quality education is fundamental for pupils’ advancement in any country. School libraries are said to be the second class for pupils because of the important role they play in enhancing the quality of education. School libraries are the avenues for cultivating pupils’ morals, the important facade for improving pupils’ education quality and for effective facilities for developing special technical education, serving as a friendly place for increasing pupils’ total education quality.
   
   For this reason we will continue to keep a close eye on the two prospects for libraries that we had for the children of CSAG in Ghana, the Japanese embassy application for a new library and the rehabilitation of the temporary library located in a building made available for that purpose. Both of these options have been highlighted in earlier quarterly reports.
   
3. Libraries; Promise and Practice - Despite of the tremendous contribution of school libraries in increasing the students’ performance it has been discovered that this role is not recognized by most of the government officials. The challenges such as staffing, funding, lack of standard library building and frequent change in curriculum that affects collection development need to be addressed by the government if at all the country has to provide quality education to her citizens. A library is an essential tool in providing quality education. Research has shown a strong correlation between student achievement and the presence of quality library facilities. Well-equipped libraries are particularly important for schools in deprived areas where children do not have books of their own at home.
4. Mobile Library - Reading helps children to develop language skills and enhances their vocabulary. It also stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world. We are moving now to providing a mobile Library. With a mobile library, children living in the slums can spend time reading instead of playing on the streets where they are exposed to dangers. Help provide a library to develop a culture of reading for these children!
   
5. Report on Under Privileged Student Activity - Underprivileged people usually live in poverty. A privilege is a right or an advantage, and people who are underprivileged lack such rights and advantages. Underprivileged and underachieving students are a large challenge in schools. Teachers have a challenge in dealing with students who are not interested in learning. This is because their work is to know how students can be taught to achieve good grades and reach their potential. The real problem arises from teachers who start developing negative attitudes towards these students. We are actively trying to break these stereotypes and biases and by identifying under privileged underperforming students early we can try to mitigate negative outcomes and attitudes.
   
   Underprivileged students have no access to resources like reading materials, lack of uniforms, lack of consistent food and this may lead to uncompleted homework or assignments. The problem facing educators is helping students to achieve optimal learning that is the conceptual understanding and ability to apply the knowledge to learning. Teachers are not using teaching techniques that match different kids’ modes of learning. Negative attitudes from the teachers lead to poor quality teaching. There are many solutions to curbing the negative attitude towards students like incorporating technology in the curriculum to increase students’ motivation to learn and improve their grades and talents.

We have started an awareness program initiative to support bright but underprivileged students post-10th grade, to help them pursue further studies in literacy; leading to employment. We try to reach the organization they work for so that they can help them to cover the cost of scholarships, books, and all skill training.

In addition to the access privileged students are blessed with, our programs allow the underprivileged person to get things money can’t buy. Many people have heard the expression “if you give a man a fish you can feed them a day, if you teach a man to fish you can feed them a lifetime.” Well, at CSAG we believe our privileged students can continue to enjoy the ‘fish’ they are blessed to have at the same time our underprivileged students are ‘taught’ to fish for the rewards their hard work merits. Both can and need to exist side by side; neither to the exclusion of the other. We look forward to GlobalGiving helping us meet both these urgent needs in 2022.

1. Check out our progress: we are continuing our effort to provide books during this difficult period. Please check out all of our progress reports which we post as albums. The latest album will provide details of our efforts. Thank you for your support. https://youtu.be/r5aj8fHWcvA

Links:

• 30Sep21 CSAG Books for Kids Update School OPN post COVID

• 220206 RPT 8th Quarterly Report CSAG Footprint (DOCX)