The Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Foundation, a non-profit organization has awarded GH¢1.3 million worth of scholarships to some tertiary students in Ghana. The beneficiaries numbering 25 are brilliant but needy individuals who were drawn from universities across the country.
The students were given full scholarships to their various courses with most of the beneficiaries perusing Medicine, Law, Vocational and Technical Education related courses and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) related programs for the 2022/2023 academic year.
Addressing the students at the scholarship award ceremony in Kumasi on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, the Board Chairperson of the Foundation who doubles as Otumfour Hiahene, Nana Professor Oheneba Boakye Agyei Owoahene II admonished the students to make the best out of the opportunity offered them by taking their studies serious to excel in their disciplines of study.
The internationally acclaimed Spinal Surgeon advised the students to seek knowledge, be unique, have faith, obey their calling and be unstoppable in their respective careers to make the investment in them count.
“With rising costs of college tuition and the potential burden of student debt, pursuing a college degree is out of reach for so many students in Ghana, with the help of our King, we are investing in the leaders of tomorrow by providing a pathway for young adults, regardless of their background or financial status, to reach their educational dreams, and so you have no excuse to excel,” he said.
He commended the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II for setting up the foundation which has over the years impacted positively the lives of Ghanaian youth.
Nana Professor Oheneba Boakye-Agyei Woahene II emphasized it is time Corporate Ghana and philanthropists make conscious efforts to complement the activities of the government to make Science, Technology and Mathematics (STEM) a key strategy towards producing middle-level manpower that will propel the country’s socioeconomic development in the near future.
The Executive Director for the Foundation, Nana Afia Kobi Prempeh, for her part said, the scholarship is one of the many projects that the King’s Foundation has over the years undertaking in its Education thematic area in addition to its I.C.T Mobile Learning for Rural Basic Schools, Mass Distribution of Textbooks, Otumfuo Community Reading Challenge, Teachers Awards among other projects initiated to help improve education in Asanteman and Ghana in general.
She explained that the Foundation works under five (5) key thematic areas of Education, Health, Water and Sanitation, Entrepreneurship as well as Culture and Heritage with the primary objective of enhancing the lives of the poor and disadvantaged by providing various interventions through projects and programmes for the people in Asanteman and Ghana in general.
Some of the students after receiving the scholarship could not hold their joy.
They thanked the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and the leadership of the foundation for the opportunity given to them.
One of the beneficiaries Oduro Korankye Ferdinand, Bsc. Materials Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology KNUST has this to say:
“Throughout my whole life, financial stability has been a harsh obstacle and once I received this scholarship, everything changed for the better.”
“I will always cherish this opportunity and make Otumfuo Foundation proud.”
Source: otecfmghana.com