Surbiton High School pupils create books to promote literacy in Ghana
21 February 2011
Surbiton High School pupils have formed an exciting creative partnership with Ghanaian pupils and teachers to write and illustrate books for primary school children in Ghana. The pupil-led project Akenkan seeks to promote literacy amongst Ghanaian children and was borne out of a close partnership between Surbiton High School and a Ghanaian school in the rural Akwapim Hills area. Surbiton High School is a member of the United Church Schools Trust (UCST) family of independent schools.
Twenty-one Surbiton High School pupils are creating a series of books with engaging text and lavish illustrations. All the text and images are being produced by the pupils during their free time. They chose the name Akenkan for the series, which means ‘read along’ in Twi, following a suggestion by a Ghanaian teacher who helped them set up the project.
Suzy Pett, a teacher at Surbiton High School and the project coordinator, said: “Unlike a lot of the books on the market for African children, our books have a specific frame of reference to which Ghanian children will personally be able to relate. The books will also have a Twi-English glossary at the back to encourage literacy in both languages.”
Surbiton High School pupils are actively fundraising £2,000 to cover the cost of professionally printing and designing the first four books created this year. The pupils will deliver the books to the school when they visit Ghana in the summer of 2012.
For further information and to discover how you can help, visit the Surbiton High School website.
