The South-South Professional Women Association (SSPWA) has initiated an educational project to revive reading culture and increase girl-child education.
The association disclosed this in statement jointly signed by its National President, Mrs Maryam Haruna and the Secretary, Ms Mirabel Edozie on Saturday in Abuja.
It said its goal was to ignite a sustainable reading culture in the girl-child towards attaining great educational heights for leadership and economic empowerment.
To attain this, the statement said the association would sponsor a book reading and summary competition as part of activities to mark the World Book Day.
“10 female students each from JSS1 and SSS1 from eight government secondary schools with 160 female students in all, will be contesting in three states; Akwa Ibom, Delta and Edo,’’ it said.
It said the association would sustain the project by donating books and other educational materials to schools to improve access to quality education.
“Our ultimate objectives is to change the narratives of our girls; to ensure and increase the population of the female gender in schools and to encourage reading clubs in the targeted schools.
It urged members to give at least two educational books to school age children in any community of their choice.
“This initiative is to encourage the reading culture in school age children of both gender in our communities.
“We all own this project as members as we try to do a good deed for our girls by changing their stories,” it said.
NAN reports that the association is a group of professional women, whose vision is to ensure accountability and gender response to issues affecting women and girls, particularly in rural communities. (NAN)
