Mampong (Ash), April 14, GNA - The Sekyere West Educational Development for Children (SWEDEC), a local NGO is to establish 10 community libraries in the Sekyere West District of Ashanti by 2010. The NGO has already refurbished and stocked a community library at Krobo, the birthplace of the late General Akwasi Amankwaah Afrifa, at a cost of 20 million cedis.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Asante-Mampong, a director of SWEDEC, Mr Osei Bonsu said it was the vision of his organization to bridge the gap in educational opportunities between urban and rural poor in the area.

He said with increasing population growth and abject poverty in rural areas, a vast majority of parents could still send their children to school, despite the introduction of the capitation grant. Making education more accessible, Mr Bonsu emphasized, was therefore the collective responsibility of government, civil society groups and individuals, who could afford to help others. He said through the untiring efforts of the founder of SWEDEC, Mrs Christiana Afrifa and her partner's abroad, five foreign teachers have agreed to teach in four communities in the district as guest teachers. The beneficiary schools are Penteng, Kyirefamso and Krobo primary and junior secondary.

SWEDEC has also initiated a supplementary school-feeding programme at the Krobo Junior Secondary School and to extend it to other communities in the district, if funding was available. Mr Bonsu pledged the resolve of his organization to complement the government's Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme but appealed for donors and other philanthropists to support SWEDEC.