Accra, Ghana – The MTN Ghana Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of MTN Ghana, the leading telecom services provider, today awarded 500 scholarships to brilliant but needy students and teachers in public tertiary institutions in the country.
The scholarship beneficiaries comprise 300 brilliant but needy students including 14 disabled students and 200 teachers pursuing further qualifications in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), as well as vocational and technical fields.
The scholarships are designed to ease financial barriers, enabling beneficiaries to pursue their academic goals, advance their professional development and realise their full potential.
They therefore cover the cost of tuition, accommodation and a stipend for books and other relevant reading materials for the duration of their studies.
While each of the beneficiaries also received a brand new HP laptop to aid their studies.
The Foundation has awarded scholarships to students in public tertiary institutions each year since 2017. Beneficiaries are selected from all 16 regions of Ghana.
Speaking at the scholarship awards ceremony in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Stephen Blewett, was confident that through the MTN Bright Scholarship programme, the beneficiary students would complete their studies with ease.
He shared the harrowing experience of a scholarship beneficiary who had spent a year at home because his family could not afford university fees but later gained admission to the University for Development Studies with support from the MTN Ghana Foundation.
The beneficiary, Mr Blewett, noted subsequently graduated with distinction and received awards as the overall best graduating student at the School of Pharmacy, as well as the best student in pharmacology and herbal medicine.
“The talent was already there for this young man, so was the determination. The scholarship from us helped him to overcome and remove the financial barrier in his way,” Blewett said.
“That is why we are here, to help ensure that financial hardship does not bring a promising education to an end”.
The programme reflects MTN’s appreciation of the support Ghanaians have given the company over the past three decades and its desire to contribute to the country’s future development. Today is one way we can say thank you. Not simply by looking back, but by helping another family look ahead and hope, according to him.
He therefore urged the beneficiaries to put the scholarships to good use by dedicating all their time to their studies.
Important investment in Ghana’s future workforce
The Deputy Education Minister, Dr Clement Apaak, who was the guest of honour, lauded the scholarship and described it as “an important investment in Ghana’s future workforce, leadership and national development”.
He said the programme demonstrated how collaboration between government and the private sector could help address financial barriers that prevent talented young people from accessing higher education.
“Today’s ceremony celebrates excellence, integration and opportunity. More than that, it is a testament that stakeholders can achieve together”
Although many young people have the talent and potential to excel academically, financial difficulties often stood between them and their educational aspirations.
He said scholarship programme such as MTN Bright scholarship is important because they helped deserving students continue their education despite the financial circumstances of their families.
What government is doing
Dr Apaak noted that removing financial barriers is essential to promoting fairness and expanding opportunities for young people from different backgrounds.
By removing financial barriers in this community of students, they will understand that equity and equality have the same deep potential, he added.
Dr. Apaak reaffirmed the government’s commitment to education, saying public investment remained important but could not, on its own, meet every need within the sector.
“We do not pretend that we have the capacity to do so. We need partnerships,” he said.
Commendation to MTN
He commended MTN Ghana and the MTN Foundation for supporting education and urged more companies to contribute to national development through similar initiatives.
“want to say thank you, MTN, for thinking about the future of our dear Republic,” he said. adding that “Every scholarship awarded is not only to support one student; it is an investment in the workforce, in leadership and in the development of our nation’s needs for tomorrow.”
Private-sector support complemented the government’s efforts and could help ensure that more students had the opportunity to develop their abilities and contribute to the country.
He also called on corporate Ghana to view its role in national development as extending beyond paying taxes to building meaningful partnerships with public institutions.
In her welcome address, the Acting General Manager for Sustainability and Shared Value at the Foundation, Mrs Georgina Asare-Fiagbenu, said the scholarships reaffirmed MTN’s longstanding commitment to education, youth empowerment and national development.
She noted that the scholarship programmes have supported beneficiaries since the early years of the company’s operations and were formally branded as the MTN Bright Scholarship programme in 2017.
1,220 scholarships have been awarded so far
Mrs Asare-Fiagbenu was quick to disclose that since the programme began, a total of 1,220 scholarships have been awarded.
The beneficiaries have recorded notable academic achievements, including 70 valedictorians and 299 first-class graduates. A further 47 beneficiaries graduated with second-class upper honours, while 60 obtained second-class lower honours.
Genesis of the scholarship programme
The scholarship programme fulfils MTN’s commitment to Ghanaians during the commemoration of its 20th Anniversary in 2016.
During the celebrations, MTN Ghana, through the foundation, said it would award 100 scholarships to students in public tertiary institutions each year for three years. In all, more than 600 scholarships have been awarded so far.
Beneficiaries of the scholarship programme also thanked MTN Ghana for investing in their future and promised the telecom company’s board, management, and staff that they won’t disappoint them.
