Brilliant but needy SHS graduate turns MTN mobile vendor

A needy but brilliant Senior High School graduate at Okurase, a farming community in Upper West Akyem municipality of the Eastern Region is appealing for financial support to further his education to enable him achieve his dream of becoming a lawyer.

Twenty-one-year-old Osae Isaac scored aggregate eight(8) in 2019 West Africa Secondary Schools Examination(WASSCE).

He scored A1 in Government, Geography, Economics, Social Studies, and Christian Religion Studies, and scored B3 in English Language, B2 in Mathematics and Integrated Science.

Master Osae Isaac, now a mobile money vendor in Kokomlemle-Accra, lost his father before completing Senior High School leaving him to the hands of his poor mother who is a peasant farmer.

The student was among the first batch of Students admitted into Nyanoa Kwaobaa Community Day SHS commissioned by Former President John Mahama in 2016. He was also a beneficiary of the Progressively Free Education Policy piloted by the Mahama government.

Starr News has gathered that teachers in the school contributed money to enable him to register during the WASSCE due to the mother inability to raise Ghc350 for the registration exercise.

The sad story of the student came to light during the celebration of 63rd Independence Anniversary in Adeiso where the District Assembly and Education Directorate acknowledged him for his academic exploit and presented a Laptop and Citation of honour to him promising to support him though having failed to do so in 2019 .

In an interview with the media, visibly worried Osae Isaac maintained that he wants to pursue Law to fight for the poor in society.

“During my education at Nyanoa Senior high school, my father (now late) added me to some friends who rented a room at Nyanoa and paid his part of the accommodation. My teachers tried to seek help from the DCE but it has not been effective for now. For now, I am doing mobile money for someone at Kokomlemle. My parents were farmers who grow food crops, but after my father’s died, my Mother is doing small small farms just for family consumption.”

He appealed that ” I will be very happy if I get the support to further my education”

The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) is a public trust set up by an Act of Parliament in the year 2000 with the core mandate to provide funding to supplement government effort for the provision of educational infrastructure and facilities within the public sector from the pre-tertiary to the tertiary level. It is also mandated to give scholarships to brilliant but needy students.

However, the poor in society without political connections are unable to access the fund as persons in privileged positions have hijacked the fund for themselves and families.

A recent audit into the books of the scholarship scheme by the Auditor General Department sparked anger among mang Ghanaians after a tall list of well to do individuals mostly government officials were mentioned as beneficiaries of the Fund.