Telecom giant, MTN Ghana on Friday awarded 50 brilliant but needy students with educational scholarships in the northern sector of Ghana.
The event is the second edition organized, after a similar one in the national capital, Accra to support 50 needy students in the southern part of the country.
Speaking to Fox FM Online, after a short ceremony held at the Law Faculty at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Corporate Services Executive at MTN Ghana, Mr. Sam Koranteng mentioned that the idea of supporting brilliant but needy students was mooted during its 20th year of operations in Ghana.
“In terms of what we call the MTN Bright Scholarship Awards, the idea was conceived when we celebrated our 20th anniversary and at the commemoration at the anniversary, the MTN Ghana Foundation committed to award 300 bright but needy students, scholarship to cater for their tuition fees, accommodation as well as stipends to help them purchase books and other essentials for their education.”
He added: “That commitment was made in 2016 and the scholarship awards commenced in 2018/2019 academic year. We put out there that we were ready to support brilliant but needy students. We received several applications and then we have a panel of judges who go through interviewing the participants to determine which of them are brilliant but truly needy.”
A total of 1,900 applications from 21 public tertiary institutions were received for the year 2020 and judges drawn from academia and human resource shortlisted 184 students.
Out of 184, 100 applicants were finally selected to be awarded the scholarship.
Mr. Koranteng further expressed satisfaction at the rise of applications by female students and persons living with disability.
“We noticed an increased participation from females; there’s been an increase from 18 percent to 35 percent which is very encouraging. We’ve also seen an increase in persons with disability who have also benefited from this award.”
“MTN is saying that we brighten lives everywhere we go; we’ve given the scholarships and we encourage them to take their study seriously. The human resource of every nation is the bedrock of socio-economic development and we trust that with this help that we’re giving the students, they would form the bedrock of our society to ensure that they contribute their quota to the socio-economic development of this country.”
MTN has since its operation in Ghana offered 1,000 scholarships and invested heavily in infrastructure to promote education across the country.
To this end, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah (Hon.) who graced the occasion expressed joy and satisfaction at the partnership between MTN and the government to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4.
Some of the recipients expressed gratitude to the network operator stating that their lives have changed through this gesture.
Visually impaired, second-year student at the Wesley College, Francis Manu, was extremely grateful to MTN for considering persons living with physical challenges to apply.
“After going through the application process online because of the Covid-19, I was notified of my status and later invited for a virtual interview last August and I thankfully made it through. Indeed, this scholarship is going to help me actually fulfill all my educational needs as far as the tertiary level is concerned. Thank you so much MTN.”
Another awardee, a BSc. Biochemistry student from the University of Development Studies, Navrongo Campus, Okyere Nyarko Blessing intimated that: “This is love from MTN and I’m much grateful for such an opportunity and such an extension of hand to me in this time.”
The MTN Bright Scholarship Award forms part of the telecom leader’s three core tenets of corporate social responsibility, namely health, education, and economic empowerment.
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