AngloGold Ashanti Iduapriem Mine has awarded scholarships to 50 students from its host communities towards their tertiary education as part of efforts to provide a sustainable future for the youth through education.
The beneficiaries will have their school fees, accommodation fees and all other related costs paid in full by the mine until they complete their studies.
Beneficiaries of this year will join 152 previous beneficiaries from the company’s host communities.
The scheme was instituted in 2011.
Presenting the awards during the company’s 19th Annual Thanksgiving Service at Iduapriem in the Western Region, the Managing Director of the Iduapriem Mine, Samuel Boakye Pobee, reaffirmed the mine’s commitment to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of life-long learning opportunities in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 4 of the United Nations.
“In line with our commitment to diversity and inclusion, the management of Iduapriem Mine this year reserved 50 per cent of our scholarship award for females pursuing programmes related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at the tertiary level as part of efforts to bridge the gap between males and females in the mining industry,” Mr Pobee indicated.
He, therefore, urged the beneficiaries, especially the females, to take advantage of the opportunities presented and focus on their studies to reach their full potential.
Better communities
The Senior Manager — Sustainability, Stephen Adjei, noted that the scholarship scheme formed part of several innovative interventions being implemented by the mine in pursuit of an objective to leave their communities better off.
“Through our Basic Education Improvement Programme, we undertook several interventions last year to improve educational standards across our host communities, including the provision of teaching and learning materials, commissioning of two new six-unit classroom blocks for the New Tokunaso and Awodua Methodist Basic schools, as well as an eight-bedroom semi-detached apartment for Abompuniso Basic School teachers,” Mr Adjei said.
He indicated that the mine had spent over GH¢2 million since the inception of the Community Scholarship Scheme to support over 200 students at the tertiary level, with some of the beneficiaries becoming accountants, engineers, medical doctors, bankers, nurses, teachers, among others.
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Lawrencia Quansah, who is pursuing Electricals and Electronics Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), said she was on the path to becoming one of the best electrical engineers in the country.
“With this scholarship, I will have a sound mind to study and pursue my four-year Electricals and Electronics Engineering programme to achieve my dream of becoming one of Ghana’s best engineers. I feel privileged because I come from a home that wouldn’t have been able to grant me this opportunity,” Ms Quansah stated.
“This is a stepping stone to becoming good and useful citizens in the future,” she added.
Source: Graphic.com.gh