Abdel Razak Yakubu
A total of 163 students from the host communities of Gold Fields Ghana Limited in the Western Region have received scholarships to further their education at the various tertiary institutions under the Gold Fields Ghana Foundation.
The beneficiaries, made up of 84 males, 79 females are pursuing programmes in the area of Science, Technology, Mathematics (STEM) and others.
Two of the students are persons with disability who are being sponsored to study at the Cape Coast School for the deaf.
This came to light at the 2022/2023 Gold Fields Ghana Foundation Scholarship Programme held in Tarkwa. The estimated cost of the 2022/23 academic year awards was $199,245.
Speaking at the programme, the Executive Secretary of Gold Fields Ghana Foundation, Abdel Razak Yakubu said one of the objectives of the programme was to support students in STEM programmes so they could take up roles in the company when vacancies arise.
He said to qualify for the scholarship, one must either be a native of any of our 19 host communities or must be resident in that community before Gold Fields started its operations in Ghana.
He said applicants must complete a form that is issued by the Foundation to community chiefs and assembly members before they are considered for interviews.
He added that the chief of the community must endorse the form as proof that the candidate indeed satisfies the residency condition.
“In addition, applicants for this award need to prove that they have obtained aggregate 12 or better at the WASSCE level”.
He, however, stated that opportunities are given to students who attend rural basic schools and continue to reside in rural host communities after SHS even if they do make the qualifying aggregate score.
Regional Manager, Community Relations of Gold Fields Ghana Tarkwa Mine Robert Siaw, said there are very remarkable stories from the programme per the company’s tracking of the performance of the beneficiaries.
“This year, a beneficiary from Amoanda, a community in the Damang Mine area was adjudged the ‘Best female graduating student-Mineral Resources Engineering’ at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) in Tarkwa”, he disclosed.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Tarkwa