Vodafone Foundation settles fees of student journalists

The Vodafone Ghana Foundation, the charity arm of Vodafone Ghana, has settled the fees of five needy students of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) as part of its strategy to improve lives and communities through education.

The foundation yesterday presented a cheque for GH¢9,510 to the management of the school to cover the fees of the five final-year students who “genuinely” could not pay their fees for the 2020/2021 academic year.

The gesture was in response to a petition by the deputy Editor of the Graphic Business, Mr Charles Benoni Okine, to the foundation on behalf of the five students for financial support.

Mr Okine’s intervention followed the brouhaha that ensued between some aggrieved students and management of the institute when the latter directed students who failed to pay their fees on time last semester to defer their programmes.

Presentation

Presenting the cheque at a brief ceremony at the GIJ’s North Dzorwulu campus near Accra yesterday, the Head of Vodafone Ghana Foundation, Reverend Amaris Nana Adjei Perbi, said the organisation was concerned about empowering and transforming society through education, hence the gesture.

He said the move was also in keeping with the foundation’s Kindred Partnership Project, which was launched recently to support its sustainable initiatives to drive social change, improve lives and solve pressing social needs.

“For us, this is not just any gathering but a relationship that we would want to establish with the GIJ and going forward, we would be able to focus on most of the priorities that we have in relation to education,” he said.

Fruitful partnership

The Rector of the GIJ, Professor Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo, who received the cheque on behalf of the students, commended Vodafone Ghana Foundation for the gesture and expressed the hope that the move would set the tone for more fruitful engagements between the two institutions.

He said the GIJ had a scholarship foundation through which it sought to collaborate and cooperate with organisations to support the financial needs of students.

For his part, Mr Okine, who is also an alumnus of the school, entreated the beneficiaries to take their studies seriously and produce good grades in appreciation of the gesture and pave the way for more support in the future.