Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum in a handshake with Harriet Amoah while displaying the agreement
Fifty students have been offered scholarships by the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) to study at the University of Mines and Technology (UMAT).
The beneficiaries were drawn from BOST-impacted communities.
The scholarship package is in response to a request from the Ministry of Education to BOST to assist needy but brilliant students in pursuing engineering programmes as part of the government’s efforts to boost the number of students pursuing Science and Engineering programmes at the tertiary level.
The impacted communities of BOST operations include Kpone, Shai, Osudoku, in the Greater Accra Region, Lower Manya Krobo and Asuogyaman districts in the Eastern Region, and Kaase Municipal Assembly in the Ashanti Region.
The rest are Central Gonja district in the Savannah Region, Savelugu district in the Northern Region, West Mamprugu district in the North-East Region and Bolgatanga Municipality in the Upper East Region.
Head of Legal of BOST, Mrs. Harriet Amoah, who signed an MOU on behalf of the CEO for the commencement of the programme, said the four-year scholarship includes tuition, stipend, mentorship and coaching, facilitating internship and National Service placement, provision of clothing, lap top and facilitating job opportunities for 20 per cent of the students as well as providing clothing for them while in school.
She indicated that the 50 beneficiary students who were selected out of over 200 students from BOST’s impacted communities have been enrolled at the University of Mines and Technology to offer programmes in Electrical Engineering, Petrochemical Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Cyber Security.
The gesture, she said, would go a long way to help the students to contribute positively to the development of their respective communities after completion of their programmes.
For his part, the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum said the programme is expected to provide support to 2,000 students.
He said 25 per cent of the students who were non-Science students were given opportunity to pursue one year pre-tertiary programmes in Maths and Science to give them a firm foundation before they were enrolled in the four-year degree programme in Engineering at UMAT.
According to him, the 60 per cent ration for Science education would one day become a reality and offset the situation where only 12 per cent of the students in Ghana pursue Science and Engineering education apart from the opportunity given to non-Science students to achieve their goal of becoming Science students.
He expressed profound gratitude to BOST for the support for students who would never have had any opportunity to read Engineering programmes from a progressive organisation to change their fortunes and future to make them great individuals.
“We want to pursue an agenda that will change the educational fortunes of this country with the support of the President to pursue STEM, to change the fortunes of this country and ultimately compete with countries such as Vietnam who had also embarked on similar programmes in the past and making dividends by producing 100,000 engineers today,” he added.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah