In an attempt to contribute towards closing the resource gap in rural settings and empowering community members with the tools and resources they need to better educational outcomes, EduSpots has been committed to providing educational resources for use across over forty Ghanaian communities.
EduSpots organises annual book drives to source new and in-good-condition books for distribution in low-resource areas. Through the hard work and support of volunteers, schools, and partners, we have shipped over 100,000 books to Ghana in the last six years.
This summer, through the support of the hardworking staff and students in the EduLit team at Sevenoaks School, Ghanaian illustrator Fleance Forkuo, community members and our Head of Literacy Stephen Tettegah, we have produced 2,000 phonics books with local content and has also printed 1,000 copies of the second in our Kwame’s Adventures series set in Abofour where our first library was built.
Central to this project is that students and community members from different contexts are engaged in critical discussions relating to representation, decolonisation and the value of community-centred educational resources that mirror the lives of learners.
Following receipt of the first edition of ‘Kwame’s Adventures’, which is set in Tease, one student commented: “I love the book because it talks about my community and this is the first time I am reading a storybook that mentions my community’s name.”
A local volunteer in Kalpohin commented: “If we want to encourage pupils to read then we need to give them books that mirror their world and capture their interest, this is what the book does and I believe more of such initiatives need spreading.”
A Sevenoaks student commented: ‘As someone born and raised in the UK, the abundance of relatable literacy resources had never been a privilege I had actively recognised, however now I am able to recognise how literacy resources are dominated by western culture and it motivates me further to look into diversifying specifically children’s literature.”
Our Chairperson Miss Cat Davison and Resource Manager Mr. Francis Yeboah have enjoyed visiting our communities this summer to deliver these resources and engage community stakeholders in deepening understanding of our community-led model.
This engagement is alongside the distribution of over 25,000 other books from our book drive and book donations from our partner, Book Aid International.
We are grateful to the Chalk Cliff Trust for supporting our book and resource shipment, to Sweet Aroma for their prints work, to the Fonthill Foundation for their support with some resource printing and ultimately to our volunteers and catalysts across our 42 spots whose leadership and efficient use of the resources inspire us to continue.
