CalBank, United Way donate books nationwide to mark World Literacy Day

By Sandra Agyeiwaa OTOO

 CalBank has reaffirmed its commitment to education by donating over 30 cartons of reading materials to schools across the country as part of its 35th anniversary celebrations and in observance of World Literacy Day.

Speaking during the exercise, which was done in partnership with United Way Ghana, the Managing Director (MD) of CalBank, Carl Asem, explained that the initiative reflects the bank’s long-standing social corporate responsibility (CSR) priorities in education, health and philanthropy.

“We specifically chose this day as part of our social corporate responsibility (CSR). We normally focus on education, health and philanthropic adventures; but we go back in our 35^th year to snow that all the staff that we have have been educated through this particular means. We said that today, we are giving back to society by donating these books to the young ones. It falls in line with our objectives; hence, the decision of this day to give such donation,” he noted.

He made this statement during the presentation of learning materials at CalBank’s flagship event held at St. Justin Anglican Cluster of Schools in Ablekuma

He added that the donation, which included learning materials ranging from kindergarten to junior high school level, was sourced both from staff contributions and from the bank itself.

“All sorts of reading materials from primary school to kindergarten up to the JHS level were donated both by the staff and also by the bank itself, and we added it together. It was important that for giving out, we also needed to encourage the staff that it’s not only what they benefit from the institution, but their willingness to give back to society and give back to the community in which we operate,” he emphasised.

The Managing Director disclosed that CalBank deliberately chose deprived communities across its nationwide network for the initiative, noting that over 10 regions have already benefitted.

According to him, this focus ensures that support reaches children who need it most.

Beyond the donation, Mr. Asem stressed that CalBank is committed to measuring the impact of the initiative in partnership with United Way Ghana.

“It is important that we come back to do an assessment with United Way to find out how it has impacted on their reading, the enthusiasm about how they are willing to develop reading. This is how we impact but because education is part of our social responsibility, it’s an area that we will continue to focus on. That is why I was willing to tell them that we will come back again. For our coming back, it’s not only to give; but to see the impact that it’s having on society,” he stressed.

On his part, Philip Kwame Benson, Project Lead in Education at United Way Ghana, underscored the importance of the collaboration with CalBank, which has spanned three years.

“United Way Ghana ensures that every child in Ghana has access to materials that will help him or her achieve quality education and Calbank has been one of our partners; and for about three years now we have been partnering on such projects with them,” he noted.

He revealed that a needs assessment identified lack of access to reading and learning materials as a major challenge for many schools. The intervention, he said, was therefore timely and expected to produce measurable improvements.

“We did our needs assessment and we found out that this school has a large population and one of the challenges they face is access to reading and learning materials; so we reached out to them and they said today being World Literacy Day, they will come and show their support to them so that is why we are here today,” he indicated.

Mr. Benson added: “We expect that, at least, what we have brought will be able to solve some of the challenges they are facing. We expect that this will help them improve on their literacy going forward, and also reflect in their B.E.C.E results.”

The School Improvement Support Officer (SISO) for Ablekuma Circuit, Oduro Abankwaa, lauded CalBank’s donation of learning materials, describing it as timely support for pupils in deprived communities.

“This gesture is very important. When Mr. Carl Asem was speaking, he made mention of the fact that some of the learners are in need and it is true. If you look at the kind of learners we have here, unlike other schools, some are in need so these materials are going to benefit them and ease our burden a lot,” he stated.

Mr. Abankwaa, however, noted that schools in the circuit continue to face pressing challenges, saying: “For the needs, there are plenty, one of them is the lack of furniture. Because of the large enrolment, we need a lot of furniture in our classrooms. Sometimes there is maintenance that we need to do – maintenance of our windows, doors and electricals. Another challenge is our refuse dump. Because the enrolment is huge, they make a lot of waste and how to manage it is a challenge.”

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