A school library built for 3,000 books held only about 450 — many outdated — until bank employees stepped in as part of a 95-project national volunteering drive.
Employees of GCB Bank PLC have donated books and two desktop computers to the library of Osei Tutu Senior High School at Akropong in the Ashanti Region, in an effort to widen students' access to reading material and digital research tools.
The donation was reported by Ghanaian Times.
A library well below capacity
The numbers explain why the school was chosen. The library has seating for roughly 260 students and shelf space for up to 3,000 books. At the time of the intervention, it held only about 450 books, and a large share of those were outdated or no longer matched what students are expected to study today.
The volunteer team therefore worked on two fronts: expanding and refreshing the physical book collection, and adding computers so students can do online research and reach learning materials that are not on the shelves.
About 4,000 students and members of the wider school community are expected to benefit. Management of Osei Tutu SHS thanked the bank and the staff volunteers, saying the books and computers would strengthen the library's support for teaching, learning and research.
Part of a 95-project national programme
The project is the 21st of 95 community projects being carried out this year under GCB Bank's Staff Community Impact Programme, known as SCIP. The programme is employee-led, meaning bank staff themselves identify the need, pick the beneficiary and run the project. Its stated target is to reach one million Ghanaians.
The Osei Tutu SHS project was driven by employees from the SME Accra East Hub, the SME Ashanti-Bono Hub, the CMB Ashanti-Bono Suite and other colleagues in the bank's Corporate and Commercial Banking Division. SME here refers to the small and medium-sized enterprises arm of the bank.
Cynthia Ofori-Dwumfwo, GCB Bank's Chief Marketing, Communications and Customer Experience Officer, framed the programme as a duty that goes past normal banking work.
"Our responsibility to the communities we serve goes beyond providing banking services," she said, adding that staff were tackling issues ranging from education and healthcare to sanitation and the environment.
Why it matters
For Ghanaians following school infrastructure debates from home or abroad, the Osei Tutu figures are a useful snapshot. The building and the seating exist; the content does not. A library stocked at roughly 15 per cent of its shelf capacity, with ageing titles, is common in many second-cycle schools, and it is the kind of gap that alumni groups and diaspora associations often fill.
The school community will now watch whether two computers and a fresh batch of books translate into steadier use of the library for independent study and research.
With 21 of the 95 SCIP projects completed, the remaining work is expected to continue across the country through the year.
