Bongo Assembly awards tertiary scholarships to 64 students

The Bongo District Assembly in the Upper East Region has awarded scholarships to 64 tertiary students to support them to pay their school fees.

Mr Peter Ayinbisa Ayamga, the District Chief Executive for the area made this known to the media in Bongo when he presented to the beneficiary students, receipts of payment of their fees into their various schools’ bank accounts.

The DCE said the district was given GHC64, 000.00 to support brilliant, but needy students who gained admission into tertiary institutions and disclosed that over 200 students applied for the grant, but 64 were selected to benefit.

The highest amount to be given to a beneficiary was GHC2, 850.00, while the lowest amount a beneficiary received was GHC 800.00.

He admonished the students to focus on their studies to enable them to acquire the necessary knowledge that would empower them to contribute to poverty reduction in the area and accelerate sustainable development.

Mr Ayamga explained that as part of the decentralisation agenda of the government, it had decentralised the scholarship secretariat to the various districts and that had helped some students to benefit from the grant.

The DCE therefore appealed to government to consider decentralising every sector recruitment exercise to the various district levels to enable many local people to benefit from such initiatives.

This, he said, would not only eliminate the situation, where many qualified people in the various districts were neglected, but also helped to solve the unemployment situation especially in the less endowed districts.

The students expressed gratitude to the Bongo District Assembly and government for the support and promised to study hard to come out well-equipped to contribute meaningfully to nation building.

Mr Stephen Nkoo, a beneficiary and student of the Zuarungu Nursing Training College indicated that the support was a big relief to him as he found it difficult to pay all his fees last year.

Ms Mercy Awintanga, a student of University of Cape Coast said she could not pay her fees last year due to poverty.