The first batch of 100 beneficiaries of the MTN Bright Scholarship Reloaded were on Wednesday handed with their scholarship packages.
The package covered tuition, accommodation, a stipend of GHS 1,150 per semester and a laptop computer to facilitate their studies.
As part of the MTN 25th Anniversary celebration, the MTN Ghana Foundation board once again approved the award of 300 Scholarships under the MTN Bright Scholarship for another three years ending in 2024 to brilliant and needy students in public institutions.
Consequently, the Bright Scholarship Reloaded was launched in June 2022 to support brilliant but needy students with focus on Science, Technology Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) and Vocational and Technical Education.
Speaking at the ceremony, the a Board Member of MTN Ghana Foundation, Dr Gloria Asare, said the MTN Ghana Foundation was convinced that education was one of the main avenues for social mobility, hence the reason the Foundation continued to invest in education and MTN Bright Scholarship for that matter.
She said the Foundation had received heartwarming testimonies and testimonials from beneficiaries some of whom had graduated and others still pursuing their programmes of study, and said they “described how they struggled with funding for their education and most of them were on the verge of dropping out of school until Bright Scholarship came their way.”
“The success and impact of the first Bright Scholarship initiative necessitated the launch of the Bright Scholarship Reloaded for the next 3 years,” Dr Asare, said.
She said out of over 119 beneficiaries that had graduated, 82 graduated with first-class honours degrees with 24 receiving special awards including valedictorians.
Considering the demand for scholars and professionals in the STEM field, the Board Member of MTN Ghana Foundation said the MTN Bright Scholarship Reloaded was launched to contribute to addressing the issue such as STEM, vocational skills and technical skills training and also focused physically challenged persons interested in pursuing ICT and Computer Science courses.
Dr Asare said scholarship would help ease the financial burden faced by the beneficiary students to have peace of mind to complete their education without any major difficulties.
She encouraged the beneficiaries to study seriously to justify the huge investment being made in them by the MTN Ghana Foundation.
George Kyei Frimpong, of MTN Ghana in his remarks said in keeping with our mission to improve the quality of lives in the communities in which we operated, the MTN Ghana Foundation since its inception had committed itself to providing sustainable projects in health, education, and economic empowerment to improve livelihoods.
He said the beneficiaries had been selected from all public tertiary institution representing all 16 regions of Ghana, explaining that the beneficiaries “qualified for this award through their impressive academic track record and have shown eagerness to pursue higher level education.”
“Today, we are here to award the beneficiaries of MTN Bright scholarship Reloaded. The beneficiaries have been selected from all public tertiary institution representing all 16 regions of Ghana,” he said.
Some of the beneficiaries who spoke to the Ghanaian Times commended MTN Ghana Foundation for the scholarship, saying it had open an avenue for them to pursue higher education.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
