PwC Ghana, in partnership with United Way Ghana, has rolled out a reading project at the Aplaku MA Cluster of Schools within the Ga South Municipality.
About 400 pupils of the lower primary classes (Basic 1 – 3) of the Aplaku MA 1, 2 & 3 Basic Schools were engaged in the reading activity as part of the institutions’ efforts to attain the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 – Quality Education.
This initiative reflects PwC’s commitment to making meaningful systematic contributions to social issues and United Way Ghana’s focus on improving education and life-long learning in underprivileged communities.
The reading project sought to provide access to age-appropriate books for young learners, build confidence in reading, develop an interest in reading, identify new words through vocabulary-building activities, and also guide them to adopt reading habits.
Among the things the project seeks to achieve is to ensure 80 percent of young learners engaged are inspired to read more & improve academic performance; and 100 percent of young learners have access to age-appropriate reading materials.
With a ratio of one volunteer to approximately ten young learners, about 50 volunteers from PricewaterhouseCoopers engaged the young learners in a 2- hour reading and storytelling session.
The young learners were also allowed to ask and answer questions about the stories they had read. This opportunity created interactive engagements between the volunteers and young learners.
The Executive Director of United Way Ghana, Felix Kissiedu-Addi, expressed United Way Ghana’s commitment to improving people’s lives, particularly young learners.
“We are happy that PwC found us a worthy partner to work together on this reading project. Early literacy means helping children develop a rich vocabulary, self-expression, and reading comprehension. These are tools that we know they need to become successful and life-long learners,” he said.
In her remarks, Ms. Jennifer Achaa Osei, Assistant Manager at PwC, said: “One of the reasons we decided to partner on this project is because we believe strongly in talent and skills development, especially of young children. At PwC, we believe in training and developing our workforce. As such, children, when they can learn to read at a young age, begin to develop their leadership skills and can imagine a certain kind of future for themselves. Reading also opens up the minds of these children to have a certain level of confidence. We are very grateful to United Way Ghana for considering us for this partnership”.
An employee volunteer from PwC Ghana, Tarish Abubakar, shared his experience engaging with the children. “I think they did very well reading the books. It was a good performance for primary two learners. When they keep reading more, they will become more fluent in the English language; and with the provision of more books and resources, their performances will improve massively.”
The employee volunteers of PwC Ghana also urged the teachers and management of the schools to teach “Reading Time” in their respective school curricula to ensure that reading habits are formed in the young learners as they engage in daily reading and learning activities.
The schools also received donations of 533 storybooks, nine mini bookshelves, nine sets of flashcards, nine dictionaries and exercise books to enhance learning and promote literacy in the schools.
About PwC
PwC is the largest provider of professional services in Africa with over 450 partners and over 10,000 people in 32 African countries. PwC Ghana is a member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, each member firm of which is a separate legal entity. It offers professional services to both the private and public sectors in Ghana in the following industries: Consumer and Industrial Products and Services (CIPS); Energy, Utilities and Resources (EU&R); Financial Services (FS); and Government and Public Sector (G&PS).
About United Way Ghana
United Way Ghana is a member of the United Way Worldwide Network, the world’s largest privately-funded non-profit, working variously in over 1100 communities and over 38 countries. United Way focuses on education, health and economic empowerment, the building blocks for ensuring a resilient community, and creating social impact in the local communities.
It envisions a society where everyone is empowered to lead an informed, healthy and productive life by fighting for the education, health and financial stability of people in underserved communities in Ghana.
