Christopher Asiedu (2nd from left), Assistant Community Relations Officer of the GOPDC, presenting a cheque to Marfo Ntiamoah (2nd from right), one of the beneficiary students

51 Tertiary students benefit from GOPDC scholarship

Haruna Yussif Wunpini Dec - 13 - 2023 , 07:11 3 minutes read

The Ghana Oil Palm Development Company (GOPDC) at Kwae in the Kwaebibirem District in the Eastern Region has provided a scholarship package for 51 students within its operational areas to pursue programmes at the tertiary level.

The company cultivates oil palm and processes the palm oil.

At a short ceremony to present the cheques to that effect at the company’s premises at Kwae last Saturday (December 9), the Community Relations Manager (CRM) of the company, Andrew Enyam Andoh, said the beneficiaries were under the company's scholarship scheme.

CSR

According to Mr Andoh, GH¢230,000 had been disbursed since the restructuring of the scholarship scheme as part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to support only tertiary students in need in 2022.

He said the company had been paying the tuition fees of students in their operational areas for years.

Mr Andoh said the company, which was paying the fees of needy senior high school students, had to redirect the package to those at the tertiary level due to the introduction of the free SHS programme.

He indicated that in 2022, the company released GH¢100,000 to support tertiary students and another GH¢130,000 in 2023.

The scholarship package, he stated, had been spread across 15 communities in the company’s operational areas, with a maximum of two slots for each community.

He said some of the communities were located at Kusi, Takorase, Asuom, Kwae, Aboabo, Mintah, Obomeng and Okumeni, all in the Kwaebibrem and Denkyembour districts.

Projects

The Community Relations Manager noted that some of the projects the company had undertaken in the health and education sectors were the provision of a health centre at Okumanin, nurses’ quarters at Kusi, which was started by the community, and a 24-bed capacity facility health centre at Asuom.

He advised the students to make good use of the scholarship package.

Beneficiaries concern

A beneficiary of the scholarship package, a level 300 Mechanical Engineering student of the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Marfo Ntiamoah, thanked the company for its assistance.

He said after completing SHS, he had no hope of furthering his education due to financial constraints.

Mr Ntiamoah said without the company’s assistance, his dream of obtaining tertiary education would not have been possible.

He promised to study hard to make his family and community proud because it would open up more opportunities for him in the years ahead.

Another beneficiary from Kusi, Melody Oforiwaa Gyasi, a level 200 student at the University of Ghana, said the support from the company enabled her to pursue a programme in veterinary medicine.

She was grateful to the company for its continued support, adding that she would continue to study hard to justify the package offered to her.

Writer's email: haruna.wunpini@graphic.com.gh