The Volta River Authority (VRA) has awarded educational scholarships to 61 needy, brilliant students from communities impacted by the Authority’s operations.
Worth GH₵800,000, the scholarship covers the payment of their tuition and hostel fees.
The scholarship scheme, which falls under the Authority’s Community Development Programme (CDP), seeks to support the development of human resources to contribute to the sustainability and the growth of communities, as well as national development.
The beneficiaries were drawn from the communities impacted by the VRA’s operations – Akosombo, Akuse, Kpone and Aboadze areas.
Speaking at the event, the Chief Executive of VRA, Mr Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa, said the scholarship awards scheme is a proof of the Authority’s commitment of adding value to lives.
He commended the achievements and progress of previous beneficiaries of the scholarship and urged current beneficiaries to apply themselves diligently to their studies.
Mr Antwi-Darkwa stated that the Authority’s education scheme seeks to support the development of human resources in its impacted communities.
He said the Authority is confident that through the scheme, the beneficiaries would contribute to the sustainability and developmental programmes in their communities and the nation as a whole.
Mr Antwi-Darkwa said the VRA places emphasis on applicants offering courses in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) as a way of encouraging more of the youth from the impacted communities to be in line for job offers in the Authority.
He encouraged the students to exhibit good academic performance and take advantage of the opportunity offered them to make the difference in their respective communities.
It is instructive to note that since the inception of the scholarship scheme in 2011, VRA has sponsored 329 students from Akosombo, Akuse, Kpone and Aboadze areas.
Out of the number, 234 students were sponsored at the secondary level prior to the introduction of the Government of Ghana’s Free SHS programme, and 95 students at the tertiary level.
Out of those sponsored at the tertiary level, 77 have completed successfully while 18 are still in school.
Two months after gaining admission into the Keta Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Ernestina Dzakumah, the last of nine children, feared she may not be able to accomplish her dream of becoming the first nurse in her family due to financial difficulties.
Her father, a retired driver, and her mother, a seamstress, did not have the wherewithal to finance her education.
Support from her brother is also not sufficient to fund her education, leaving her hoping against hope.
After managing to pay her fees in the first year, Ms Dzakumah said she had no hope of completing her three-year diploma programme because her brother could no longer afford her fees.
At the point where she contemplated dropping out of school, her father, through the recommendation of a friend, applied for the VRA Community Development Programme Education Scheme, an initiative that seeks to provide scholarship for brilliant, needy students at the tertiary education level.
Ms Dzakumah was successful in her application and was offered a full scholarship by VRA, a gesture, she said, had brought relief to her family.
She is among 60 other beneficiaries who have been offered full scholarships by VRA to pursue various programmes in public tertiary institutions across the country.
