Ghana’s First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has commissioned the Kyebi Children’s Library, located at the J.B Danquah Memorial Centre at Kyebi in the Eastern Region.

The library was constructed by the Okyehene, Osagyefo Amoatia Oforipanyin II.

She was also of the view that the development of literacy skills through the provision of functional libraries across the country was critical in ensuring that the Free Senior High School policy by the government produces quality graduates.

The First Lady added that the importance of children’s libraries could not be discounted as they helped to develop and improve children’s reading and writing skills, which served as the solid foundation for their future intellectual abilities, and enable them to function better in today’s technological age.

In contributing its quota to literacy improvement for children, the First Lady said her Rebecca Foundation had rolled out a Television reading programme, called “Learning to Read, Reading to Learn”, to help encourage the culture of reading in children.

She said the Foundation had also built four libraries, in Bia West in the Western North Region, Dafiama Busei Issah District in the Upper West Region, Wenchi in the Bono Region and Moree in the Central Region and would continue to construct more libraries in school clusters where they were needed most.

Mrs. Akufo Addo also emphasized the need for particular attention to be paid to children with disabilities to ensure that they were not left behind in the quest for enhanced child literacy skills.

She called on parents to guide their children to take full advantage of libraries by patronising them frequently, stating “the library is a special place for our children, a safe place for them to acquire knowledge.

“It has a large collection of books and other resources covering a wide range of subjects for their benefit”.

She advised the managers of libraries to regularly resource them with updated information to maintain their relevance.

She urged other corporate entities, Non-Governmental Organisations and individuals to step up to support the various  government’s initiatives and projects to help improve the educational sector in ensuring that libraries across the country were stocked with current reading materials, in order to make them continuously attractive to children.