71 Students receive scholarships
Aker Energy has awarded full scholarships worth GH¢3,164,000 to 71 students to pursue various courses at tertiary institutions across the country.
Known as the Aker Inspire Scholarship Programme (AISP), the scholarship targets brilliant students from low-income households mainly from the coastal districts in the Western Region where its exploration, development and production activities are based.
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The scholarship covers full tuition and lodging fees, a laptop for academic work, semester stipend, student development programmes including career and skills training, internship opportunities where possible and mentoring.
Commitment of Aker
Commenting on the initiative, the Chief Executive Officer of Aker Energy Ghana Limited, Mrs Kadijah Amoah, noted that “as an organisation, we are committed to building the capacity of the Ghanaian to fill critical skills gaps. We are pleased that majority of the beneficiaries will be pursuing courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics as well as a variety of other programmes in Ghanaian tertiary institutions. This is a further demonstration of our commitment to Ghana which remains unwavering even before we commence oil production.”
From an initial pilot of 20 beneficiaries, the AISP is now a fully-fledged scholarship programme extending to 51 more brilliant students who will have the opportunity to pursue their dream of tertiary education fully funded by Aker Energy and its licensed partners, Lukoil Overseas, Ghana Tano Limited, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation and Fueltrade Limited.
“I have been touched by some of the personal stories of these beneficiaries. Like Sandra, who was forced into street hawking to take care of her sick mother and physically challenged father, Francis, who worked as a driver’s mate to support his family, and Christina who did not let her disability get in the way of her education, we are confident they will justify the investment,” Mrs Amoah said.
Access to tertiary education
She explained that the AISP was designed to help improve access to tertiary education for Ghanaians, adding that the AISP replaced the Aker Energy Senior High School Scholarship programme which gave more than 1,000 senior high school students the opportunity to attend a school of their choice, fully funded.
The AISP reserves 90 per cent of places for beneficiaries from coastal districts in the Western Region with the remaining 10 per cent reserved for other regions in the country.
At least 45 per cent of the beneficiaries are female.
