Forty (40) students from four districts in the Ashanti Region have received educational grant from the AngloGold Ashanti – Obuasi Community Trust Fund.
The beneficiaries including 23 females and 17 males drawn from Obuasi Municipal, Obuasi East, Amansie Central and Adansi North, received a total of GHS80,000.00.
In all, a grant of GHS320,000.00 which includes 120 continuing students was paid as a grant for the 2023/2024 academic year from the Fund at a short ceremony held in Obuasi.
This brings to 200, the total number of students who have so far benefited from the Tertiary Education Grant Scheme of the Fund since the 2019/2020 academic year.
According to acting Programmes Manager of the AGA – Obuasi community trust fund, Arnold Ackon, the grant was instituted to support the education of brilliant but needy students in AngloGold Ashanti’s host communities.
On the mode of selection, he said prospective applicants go through competitive interviews and vetting processes.
“We make sure those selected for the grant are those who meet the minimum requirements. That is, they should live in AngloGold Ashanti’s concessions, must have attained aggregate 6-18 in their WASSCE. Thus, 6-12 for Engineering students and 6-18 for other university programs and those in College of Education and Nursing training schools”, Mr. Ackon said.
Monitoring
To sustain the integrity of the educational grant, Mr. Ackon, explained a periodic monitoring of the academic progress of the beneficiaries was conducted.
It was to ensure that the beneficiaries are still in school and are making good grades.
He advised the beneficiaries to study hard to justify the investment made in their education by the AGA- Obuasi community trust fund.
Impact
According to the Chief Executive of the Obuasi Municipal Assembly, Elijah Adansi-Bonah who is also the Steering committee chairman of the fund, sais the initiative has been impactful.
He said it has given hope to students who hitherto could not further their education due to financial constraints.
He appealed to residents within the AngloGold Ashanti concession to protect the mine to enable them to work in a congenial environment to operate optimally.
“This is the only way we can sustain the fund for the benefit of members of our communities,” he said.
AGA’s Educational support
AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine remains committed to their key purpose of mining to empower people and advance societies.
Community Relations Manager of AGA Obuasi mine, Edmond Oduro Agyei, highlighted AGA’s massive investment in education which includes the commencement of the KNUST-Obuasi Campus, the construction of ultra-modern 9-Unit Sanso Methodist Primary.
Others include the M/A JHS, the training and upskilling of over 500 teachers in Obuasi and providing over 140,000 textbooks to basic schools in collaboration with Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Foundation.
A game changer
The beneficiaries commended the fund for coming to their aid.
Chief Marcus, a level 200 student of KNUST-Obuasi Campus described the grant as a game changer revealing that he faced challenges paying his fees.
“I was faced with some uncertainties because I didn’t know how I will be able to find my fees because my parents are unemployed. I owe it a duty to learn hard to justify this investment made in my education”, he added.
The Trust Fund
The AGA Trust Fund was launched in 2012 as part of the 2004 stability agreement between AngloGold Ashanti, Obuasi Mine, and the Government of Ghana to contribute 1% of profit after tax.
As part of the revised agreement under the Development Agreement signed with the Government of Ghana in 2018, the Mine pledged to contribute USD2/Oz of gold produced into the Trust Fund.