Government must Introduce Gold Scholarship Scheme Because of Cocoa Scholarship Scheme - Apinto Gyasehene call.

The Gyasehene of Apinto Divisional Council in the Western Region, Nana Adakwah Bediako III has called on the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources to initiate Ga old scholarship scheme since gold is a leading mineral which supports the country's development. 

The Gyasehene said we know how cocoa has been helping the country and as a result, we have got cocoa scholarships to support brilliant but needy students.

According to chief Ghana's gold is also helping the development of the country, so why can't we also have a gold scholarship scheme to provide scholarships to some brilliant but needy students the cocoa scholarship scheme has been supporting some students in the country's education ladder.

He made this call when 
Gold Fields foundation supported 325 University students with GH¢779,000 to support their education and academic studies.

Amidst the ongoing student concerns with high University fees, Gold Fields Ghana has given GH¢779,000 to 325 university students from four Universities to pay for their 2022/2023 academic utility user fees.

Nana Adakwah Bediako III in an interview said, one of the things to be done to see how gold is benefiting the country is to have a gold scholarship for the host communities where gold is exploring to boost education and in doing that will show how the town feeding the country will see development and progress. 

Presenting the cheques to the Pro Vice-Chancellors of the University of Ghana, KNUST, UCC, and UMaT on behalf of their students at an event in Tarkwa, the Vice President in charge of operations at Gold Fields West Africa, Michael Van Der Merwe, said the support is part of Gold Fields Ghana Foundation’s scholarship scheme which has since 2002 supported 2,448 youth from both Tarkwa and Damang host communities to achieve quality education.

“Gold Fields Ghana Foundation believes that promoting and enhancing human capital through education and skills development is vital to the sustainable development of the country, particularly in the communities that host our mining operations. 

As evidence of this firm belief, Gold Fields and its Foundation have invested over US$36 million in providing access to quality education in its host communities since 2002 and this investment has gone into the construction of educational infrastructure.”

“The Foundation has introduced the bulk payment of Academic Facility User Fees (AFUF) on behalf of the 325 beneficiaries in the 4 Universities.

This has helped to eliminate the delays that sometimes are associated with receiving bills directly from students which in turn affects their registration each academic year,” he said.

The Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, who witnessed the handing over of the cheques to the beneficiary students commended Gold Fields Ghana for its timely scholarship intervention will enable the training of Ghana’s future labour force.

Out of the GH¢779,000 scholarship paid for the 2022/2023 Academic Facility User Fees (AFUF) of 325 students beneficiaries, KNUST received GH¢248,000, UCC GH¢115,000, University of Ghana GH¢131,000 and UMaT received GH¢283,000.

Story by Opamago Paparichy.