The Northern Regional Director of the Ghana Library Board Mr Aaron Kuwornu, has appealed for more libraries to be constructed in the Region to help inculcate the habit of reading in children.

He said reading built strong foundation for children to achieve academic laurels adding that constructing libraries in all districts of the Region would help improve education outcomes for basic and senior high schools.

Mr Kuwornu made the appeal at a forum in Tamale, organised by the Youth Empowerment for Life (YEfL), in partnership with IBIS OXFAM, Ghana.

It brought together experts in various fields to interact with about 250 youth from the Region as part of this year’s International Youth Day activities.

The forum, on the theme: “One District, One Library: A Catalyst for Universal Youth Literacy” formed part of efforts by the YEfL to generate debate on strategies to improve access to quality education considering the consistent poor performance at basic and secondary levels.

It was also in line with the YEfL’s campaign for the establishment of district libraries aimed at promoting literacy and numeracy skills among the youth and improve educational outcomes.

Mr Kuwornu said there were three libraries located in Tamale, Damongo and Gambaga including a regional mobile library adding those were inadequate to address the reading needs of the public.

The Northern Regional Director of Education Alhaji Mohammed Haroun, who was represented at the forum, encouraged parents and community members to help supervise the schools by reporting absentee teachers to the authorities.

The Acting Director of YEfL Mr Alhassan Abdul-Ganiyu, called on government to redeem its pledge to build 60 libraries across the country as part of the country’s 60th Independence celebrations.

He expressed the commitment of YEfL to ensuring that “all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy” as stipulated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 4).