A total of 310 Ghanaians have been given scholarships to further their studies in China for the 2019 edition of the Chinese Government Scholarship scheme.
The students are expected to pursue post graduate programmes in Engineering, Medicine, Architecture, Agriculture and Information Communication Technology, amongst others in Peking University, Tsinghua University and other renowned Chinese universities.
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Shi Ting Wang, who announced the package at the 2019 Chinese Government Scholarship Award Ceremony in Accra on Friday, said China was committed to the human resource development of Ghana.
According to Mr Wang, apart from the 6,475 Ghanaian students currently studying in China, his outfit had issued 1,329 study visas to Ghanaian students last year to study in China
This, he said, made Ghana the country with the highest number of students from Africa studying in China, outnumbering Nigeria and South Africa.
Urging the awardees to study hard, observe the Chinese laws and live in harmony with the Chinese and other international students, Mr Wan said that was the only way their stay in China would be worthwhile.
When this is done, Mr Wan said the Ghana-China relation which dates back decades would be preserved.
“The people-to-people exchanges and cooperation between the two countries [Ghana and China] have developed in depth and making the friendship rooted in our hearts,” Mr Wang stated.
Lauding the Ghana government for introducing the Free Senior High School Policy and pledging the Chinese government’s support towards its implementation, Mr Wan noted that the two countries shared a common belief of investing in youth education.
Ghana’s Education Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, entreated the awardees to be good ambassadors of Ghana in their new environment.
He told them to embrace the opportunity to study hard, explore China’s cultural values that made it achieve economic transformation and return home after their studies with a broader perspective of life to contribute to the socio-economic development of Ghana.
Education Minister, Mr Prempeh, who is also the Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, said education was the shortest route to escape ignorance, poverty and deprivation; and that the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led government’s commitment to same was unflinching.
Ms Jamila Jakalia, a Senior State Attorney at the Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, one of the awardees, on behalf of her colleagues, thanked the Chinese government for the opportunity given to them to develop themselves in particular and Ghana as a whole.
She pledged on behalf of the awardees to observe the Chinese laws, regulations governing the various host educational institutions so as to be good Ghanaian ambassadors in China.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
