The Volta River Authority has awarded scholarships worth GHC1 million to 60 brilliant but needy students offering various programmes at different levels in the various Public Tertiary Institutions in the 2021/ and 2022/223 academic years.
The support was provided under the Authority’s Community Development Programme (CDP).
Mr Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa, the Chief Executive of VRA, speakng at the Authority’s Scholarship Awards Ceremony at Akuse, said the current support brought the total number of beneficiaries to 449.
The CDP Scholarship programme is a competitive one, and priority is given to applicants offering programmes in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
The Scholarship scheme is aimed at supporting brilliant but needy students as well as the development of the human resources in these communities.
Since 2011, 389 students from the Akosombo, Akuse, Tema/Kpone and Aboadze operational areas have been sponsored under the Scholarship scheme.
He said 234 students benefitted at the Senior High School level, while 155 of them also benefitted at the Tertiary level.
The Chief Executive said VRA was on a digital transformation trajectory in line with its creativity and innovation agenda, and as such the scholarship application procedure had been migrated online.
He said the Authority’s Scholarship scheme had chalked many successes since its inception as majority of its beneficiaries were first generation scholars in their families and in some cases communities.
“In 2022, 27 students graduated successfully from their institutions and five came out with first Class Honours,” he added.
They are: from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology: Mr. Emmanuel Tettey Abaitey BSc.Business Administration, Miss Beauty Cooper; BSc.Midwifery and Mr.Robert Tamakloe; B.A Communication Design.
From the University of Ghana, they are Miss. Benedicta Honga currently at the Ghana School of Law for her Professional Programme Bachelor of Laws (LLB) And from Koforidua Technical University: Akplobi Afenyo; HND Biomedical Engineering.
He said Mr. Theophilus Narteh Wakemeh and Miss Ernestine Emefa Akorli, who graduated three and two years ago, respectively, were currently pursuing PhD in Electrical Engineering and Master’s in Communications at the North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA.
The Chief Executive said Mr. Ivan Nyamasekpor, who graduated from the University of Ghana in 2020 had also been invited to the IAU 2023 International Conference in Doha-Qatar, as a Speaker and the only representative from Africa.
Mr Antwi-Darkwa said it was worth noting that the Authority’s past beneficiaries had formed an Alumni Association with the aim of significantly contributing to the development of their communities.
He said a few have been active participants of the Authority’s flagship Employee Volunteer Programme (EVP) which was a platform for sharing experiences, counseling, and impacting knowledge to students in Public Senior High Schools within our operational areas.
GNA
