Fifty (50) students in the Northern part of Ghana have received scholarship packages covering tuition, accommodation and feeding from MTN-Ghana.
At a brief ceremony at the Faculty of Law in the Kwame Nkrumah University Science and Technology (KNUST) Friday morning, Mr Sam Koranteng, Corporate Services Executive of MTN presented the scholarships to the carefully scrutinized, selected and deserving students.
Christened the Bright Scholarship Awards, Mr Koranteng disclosed that the initiative was borne out from the 20th-anniversary celebration of MTN in Ghana in the year 2016.
He mentioned that three hundred (300) people had benefitted from the scheme since 2018, noting that from the initial low percentage of 18% participation in the application process, the female folk participation had reached 32% currently.
Persons with disabilities (PWDs), the Corporate Services Executive noted have also shown strong interest in the application process which he noted had been highly rigorous.
‘’The launch of MTN Bright Scholarship in 2018 was a fulfilment of the commitment of MTN to Ghanaians in 2016 during the commemoration of Scancom PLC’S 20th anniversary where the company pledged to award 100 scholarships to students in public tertiary institutions each year for three years’’, Mr Koranteng stated.
SCHOLARSHIP AWARD PANEL MEMBER:
Dr Godwin Sabutey, member of the Bright Scholarship award panel noted the rigorous nature of the process leading up to the determination of the 100 persons (50 each from Northern and Southern parts of the country) across Ghana who qualified for the award.
From the applications of 1, 900 persons in the 16 regions of the country, the panel member said a lot of scrutinies was involved in arriving at the 184 applicants who were shortlisted.
The panel, Dr Sabutey disclosed had to determine those who were really needy but brilliant from the shortlisted persons whose stories were similar of having nothing to rely on while they studied at the University.
He commended other members whose diligence and commitment ensured they had a transparent process in the determination of the eventual beneficiaries.
REGIONAL MINISTER:
Addressing participants at the event, Mr Simon Osei Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister commended MTN Ghana for the educational initiative.
He noted that in a few years time, stories would be replete about MTN for the opportunity it gave to persons who were brilliant but needy to attain higher education.
Mr Mensah narrating his ordeal in the 1970s recalled how he struggled to get someone to pay his tuition fee at the secondary school education even though he had passed the common entrance exams.
The Minister therefore, charged the beneficiaries to use the opportunity offered them by MTN’s Bright Scholarship award to study hard and excel at the courses they were undertaking in school.
STORY BY MICHAEL OFOSU-AFRIYIE, KUMASI.
