457 Students benefit from KNUST laptop
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has presented a laptop each to 457 brilliant needy students under the university’s Support One Needy Student with One Laptop’ (SONSOL) project to help less privileged students.
Advertisement
Since the beginning of the initiative in 2021, the university has distributed 1,854 laptops to Ghanaian needy students, including students from the Institute of Distance Learning, Obuasi campus and from all colleges of the university.
The 457 laptops are valued at GH¢3,199,000.
Eligibility
Only Level 100 to 300 students are eligible to apply for support.
For new students, a maximum of West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) aggregate of 18 is required for one to qualify for the project and for continuing students, one needs to attain a minimum Cumulative Weighted Average (CWA) of 55.00 and above.
The selection criteria is ‘watertight’ to ensure that the laptops are received only by students who are in critical need of them.
Exemptions
All final-year students are not eligible to apply for support just as students already benefitting from any other scholarships or bursary above GH¢2,000.00.
Examples of such scholarships are those from the Mastercard Foundation scholars programme, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation
(GNPC), TullowMTN Foundation, Vodafone, the GET-Fund, MP’s Common Fund, District Assembly Support among others.
The laptops were sponsored by some corporate organisations and individuals, including Ecobank Ghana, KEK Insurance Brokers,Stanbic Bank Ghana PLC, MyTurn, Andysap Furniture, Multinec, Fairgreen Limited, Google Inc and Ultimate Hostel.
The rest are the Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG), SRC KNUST, GRASAG KNUST, NUGS KNUST and the Distance Learning Students Association (DLSA).
Speaking at the presentation ceremony at the Great Hall of the KNUST yesterday, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Rita Akosua Dickson, said it was incumbent on the institution as a university to hook onto the virtual space because the outbreak of COVID-19 had made it obvious that the university could no longer go at its own pace as far as digital transformation was concerned.
“Our commitment is in ensuring that none of our students is left behind as we work towards training their hearts and minds to respond to the demands of industry”, she stressed.
Commendation
Prof. Mrs Dickson commended the various institutions and individuals for supporting the SONSOL project but added that considering the whopping number of students who applied for the laptops, the limited laptops could not meet the demand.
She, therefore, appealed to all to support and help sustain the initiative and make the project a success.
Beneficiaries
The beneficiaries were happy to have made the cut from the selection process and expressed gratitude to the university and sponsors for the gesture, saying owning a laptop would greatly support their studies
