Achieving quality education is a problem for many developing countries including Ghana. There is no national policy for school libraries that compels school governing bodies to have a library in their schools. It is thus not surprising that in many schools, students still need help accessing both academic and personal development books. Research shows that school libraries can have a positive impact, whether measured in terms of reading scores, literacy, or learning more generally, on student achievement. This is the reason for Bentinarly Foundation’s Bundle of Pages (BOP) project. We say we are “librarilization our schools”.

BOP builds and equips libraries in rural schools with academic and personal development books across general life management skills and activates literary clubs to enhance library usage.

Launched in 2021 since its inception, BOP has built and equipped 3 libraries across rural Accra and Eastern Region with;

• • Over 400 books donated (across academic and other personal development books).
    • 2,000-member Elidiaries Literary Club activated.

“In 2017, I visited a school in a rural community in Accra to help them manage their library. On one occasion, when I was reviewing a book with class 3 students, I asked them what they aspired to be. Many called out occupations like bus drivers, food sellers, fishmongers, tailors, etc. I was sad, not because these professions are terrible but because they did not know anything or anybody else beyond this group of people. They had never heard of Nelson Mandela or Barack Obama. They did not know of computers or tablets. In simple words, they lacked knowledge. They knew only the characters in their old English language comprehension books and mathematics books. These children were limited in knowledge, had no exposure, and had no room for ‘big dreams. This is the simple story I wanted to change, and as quickly as possible. This was the beginning of my social entrepreneurship journey with my first project – Bundle of Pages which built libraries and literary clubs for 2,000 children within its first year. I had thought, whilst I cannot bring Europe to these children, we can take them to Europe, America, Asia, and even developed Africa, through books” – Elizabeth Ewudiwa, Founder, Bentinarly.