125 brilliant but needy students from the catchment area of Gold Fields Ghana Limited (GFGL); Tarkwa and Damang mines have received scholarship awards to pursue various programmes at the tertiary level for the 2023-2024 academic year.
The beneficiaries are made up of 67 females and 58 males.
Distribution of beneficiaries for this year showed that 65% were studying engineering programmes, while 25% were into other science-related programmes such as Information Technology, environmental sciences, nursing, midwifery, medicine, pharmacy and the remaining 10% were pursuing humanities and business-related programmes.
Out of 81 students pursuing engineering programmes, 35 were females specializing in fields such as mining, geological, geomatics, mineral, and electrical & electronics engineering.
A budget of about US$88,212 was allocated to cater for tuition, accommodation/hostel fees and other approved academic materials.
Each student would receive GHç7,500 annually from the GFGF.
Presenting the scholarship award letters to the beneficiaries at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa, the Regional Manager Community Relations, Gold Fields, Mr Robert Siaw, said “this is a clear indication that our ladies are taking up challenge in the male dominated field of study and we are happy about this development.”
According to him, the GFGF programme has so far supported 2,736 students from the Mine’s host communities, out of which 498 of them were still in school.
Over the past two decades, the Foundation has made substantial investments in various sectors such as education, water and sanitation, health, agriculture, and infrastructure.
Dr Nana Adarkwa Bedieko Gyasehene of the Apinto divisional area and also chairman of the select committee speaking in an interview with Adom News said the aid is to reduce the unemployment rate.
The scholarship is to help the beneficiaries develop expertise to help them in their career.
He appealed to the corporate organizations in the country to invest more into the Human Resources of their catchment areas of operations
Some beneficiaries also narrated how the scholarship comes as a relief to their academic pursuit.