AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi trust fund supports 100 students
The AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) Obuasi Community Trust Fund has provided a GH¢66,000 educational grant scheme for 100 brilliant, needy students in its operational areas.
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The scheme, which started last year, caters for 50 students each in the first and second year who scored between aggregates six and 10 in privileged communities and aggregate six and 18 in deprived communities.
Criteria
One hundred and twenty first-year students from Obuasi Municipality, Amansie Central, Adansi North and Adansi South districts applied for selection this year but only 50 were picked after an examination and interview.
Those who qualified were made up of 30 boys and 20 girls.
The Sustainability Manager of AngloGold Ashanti, Nana Ampofo Bekoe, said the support was also to increase the number of students who gained admission to senior high schools (SHSs) and reduce the drop-out rate within the catchment areas.
He warned that beneficiaries whose academic performance slumped would lose the grants to others.
Ten students who will excel in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) would again be supported to pursue their tertiary education.
Activities of the company
Nana Bekoe said even though the mine had not been producing since it moved upstream from its old site, it had kept faith with its indigenes in the catchment areas.
The plan, he explained, was to continue to support education from the provision of infrastructure to building capacities for the next five years.
Nana Bekoe said in addition to that the company had also spent GH¢415,800 on some projects in the catchment area.
He listed them to include a five-unit toilet and bathroom facility at Akrofuom, drilled and mechanised boreholes with an overhead tank in two SHSs and four communities, as well as teaching and learning materials for 20 selected pre-schools.
Bridging the gap
The Municipal Director of Education, Mr Anthony Maxwell Amoako, said the move by the company would help bridge the gap between those in the rural and urban areas.
He urged companies operating in remote areas of the country to support education so that pupils would not be intimidated by those from the cities.
The Adontehene of Bekwai, Nana Opoku Ababio, urged parents to stop watching soap operas with their children at home to help them concentrate on their books.
