Five students in the West Mamprusi Municipality of the North East Region have attained scholarships from the Minister of Education to pursue a four-year Bachelor of Science Engineering courses at the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa.
The scholarship is fully funded by the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) company.
The five beneficiaries are: Braimah Bless from Bunya, Mbangba Hamdiya Tahiru from Janga, Issahaku Alhassan Somo from Walewale, Baba Malik from Wungu, and Dawuni Patience from Kpasenkpe. They were all selected from the West Mamprusi Municipality in the North East Region after a rigorous process.
The beneficiaries are going to study oil and gas engineering, computer science engineering, petro-chemical engineering, electrical engineering and, mining engineering.
The scholarship package is the brainchild of the Minister of Education, Dr Osei Yaw Adutwum to help needy but brilliant students across the country with funding support from BOST.
The comprehensive scholarship package covers all academic fees, transportation, hostel fees, feeding, a laptop computer and allowance to support their stay on campus for the next four years.
Speaking at the palace of the paramount chief of the Wungu Traditional area where the beneficiaries were converged to seek blessing from the chief.
The head of corporate affairs and personal assistant to the Minister of Education in charge of the programme, Kwesi Abankwa said 50 brilliant but needy students across the country will benefit from the initiative for the start.
“It is supposed to be from the rural areas and then the areas that are classified as BOST impacted areas where the BOST pipeline passes, so these are the communities where this initiative is recruiting from,” he said.
He added that the initiative is targeting 2,000 beneficiaries but for the start, they are offering it to 50 students across the country this year.
The West Mamprusi Municipality is the only selected district in the North East Region where the BOST pipeline passes through.
The public relations officer of BOST, Nathaniel Acheampong, said it is part of their corporate social responsibility to support people academically to bridge the literacy and illiteracy gap in the country.
“We accepted to provide funding because of three reasons. BOST is an engineering company, when you finish your course, the chances are that you can come and work for the company. As part of our corporate social responsibility, our number one priority is education. We have been assisting schools with learning materials. The final reason is that as corporate citizens we must also contribute to lifting the economic prosperity in areas that we operate,” he said.
Meanwhile, parents and guardians present were overwhelmed with the juicy package their wards are going to enjoy. They have therefore expressed their gratitude to the Minister of Education, BOST, West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly and the effort of the MCE for West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly for the offer given to them.
Dokurugu Alhassan
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