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Cambridge University Press has made a 100,000-copy book donation to Book Aid International, its largest single donation to the charity to date.
The gift will provide books to school libraries across 12 African countries, with schools in Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Malawi among those receiving the books in 50-100-copy numbers to enable whole classrooms to learn together. The books are unused and in perfect condition, but are not currently part of the UK curriculum, CUP said.
Book Aid director Clive Nettleton said the organisation was "delighted" with the donation. “We focus on sub-Saharan Africa, because it is the poorest region in the world, where only a very small minority can afford to buy books, and libraries are for most people the only place they can gain access to good quality information," he said. "This generous donation is going to help improve access to educational materials for literally thousands of children all over Africa.”
Andrew Gilfillan, m.d. of Europe, Middle East, and Africa at CUP, said: “Our mission as an organisation is to advance learning, knowledge and research all over the world. We know that education changes lives and we believe that part of our mission is to make sure that everyone, no matter where they are from in the world, has the chance to access educational materials of the highest quality.”
The first consignment of CUP's donated books is going out to Africa this week, with the rest following in three-tonne weekly shipments.