On Saturday 31st October 2015 our e-reader programme was launched at Neesim school library. 50 e-readers are now available for all members of the local community to use in Neesim library, with priority for school pupils and teachers from all schools. The e-readers will also be used during some lessons at Neesim Primary and Junior High School. Each e-reader contains 100 e-books from a variety of genres, half of which are written by African authors, many even Ghanaian.
Around 160 interested adults and 250 excited school pupils attended the launch including notable guests such as local village chiefs, religious leaders and head teachers from neighbouring 
schools. The community were excited about the new opportunities created by the e-readers and the benefits the library will bring to the community, as the representative from Ghana Education Service explained in his speech:
“There is a saying that learning to read inevitably means reading to learn…The pass rate for BECE [senior high school final exams] in 2014 was just 18%. This is due to the fact that many children cannot read and understand. And this is why the launch of the digital library is laudable.”
In the days leading up to the launch our teaching team and school pupils were trained to use the e-readers. Despite having little experience with computers or tablets, they all picked up the basics and were excited about using them in the library from now on. Here are a few of their comments:
“E-readers are very helpful because they make reading fast. When there is a word I don’t understand I can just send my cursor to that point and the meaning will be there so it means that I will understand the whole story.” Philemon, teacher
“It is like the whole world is in this small thing, which is why the e-readers will help us a lot as teachers at this school. I am really thanking the donors for what they have done.” Ziblim, teacher
“It has brought reading to our doorstep. You can just pick the e-reader and read as many books as you want. The children can see it as fun, not knowing that they are learning. The number of children coming to the library will multiply as they will all want to be using it.” Moses, librarian
“I am very happy and excited about the e-readers. They will help the school to move forward and be the best school in Gushegu. I will come to the library every day after school closes.” – Nafisah, pupil
“The e-readers will help me because as I use them I can find the meaning of words and find out more about the world. I will come to the library every day.”- Mahi, pupil