MP Education Fund sponsors over 500 students in Cape Coast

The Cape Coast Education Endowment Fund managers have since 2009 spent about GH¢60,000.00 as sponsorship on over 500 students at the senior high and tertiary education levels.

In 2009, an amount of GH¢5,900.00 was spent on 198 students; GH¢8, 900.00 on 101 students in 2010; GH¢15,600.00 in 2011 and GH¢29,183.00 in 2012.

These were disclosed on Saturday by Mrs. Georgina Quaisie, Chairperson of the Fund when she interacted with a section of the media in Cape Coast on Saturday.

The Fund, an initiative of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cape Coast, Mr. Ebo Barton Odro, was instituted to support brilliant but-needy-students in the Metropolis with resources from the MP’s share of the Common Fund as well as the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and contributions from groups and individuals.

The Fund aims at addressing the low level of basic education in the Metropolis by providing children with appropriate financing and material resources in order to maintain a greater number of children to pursue education to highest possible level.

Mrs. Quaisie said the Fund’s role would be extended to rehabilitate dilapidated school structures in some selected communities, particularly in farming and fishing areas.

She said the Fund would also provide pre-school education to these communities and also engaged higher education officers to supervise and assist teachers the areas.

Mrs. Quaisie said the Fund would reach an agreement with the parents and guardians of children, who out of poverty, had to work to support their families to set aside a special time to teach them.

She said research had shown that when these children were well motivated, they could go up to the university level.

Mr. Barton Odro explained that the Fund’s scholarship package does not cover the student’s entire stay in school, but only a portion of it, after which the parents of the child or relative take over.

He said this had motivated parents, who hitherto were unwilling to pay the fees of their children to do so after realizing how brilliant they performed in school, adding that monies were not given directly to students or parents but paid directly to their schools’ account.

He pointed out that the Fund was a non-partisan one and would continue to function even after his tenure of office and appealed to all well -meaning Ghanaians to support it.