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‘Galamsey’ boy gets full scholarship to university

GNPC's Dr Dominic Eduah with Stephen Koomson and father

Sat, 17 Jun 2023 Source: www.ghanaweb.com

The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has offered a full university scholarship to a 21-year-old Senior High School (SHS) graduate who completed with 5As and 3Bs but was involved in illegal mining due to financial challenges.

This was sighted in a report by graphic.com.gh.

The student whose name is given as Stephen Koomson completed Mpohor Senior High School in the Western Region, and had 5As and 3Bs in the 2021 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) but was not able to further to the university.

This forced him to engage in 'illegal mining otherwise known as ‘galamsey' for survival.

According to the report, GNPC which saw the viral photo of Stephen Koomson invited him and his guardians to inform them that he will get the opportunity to study law at the University of Ghana at the full cost of the corporation.

The corporation noted that it will work together with other stakeholders to ensure that Koomson gets admission to study law at the University of Ghana next academic year.

At a brief meeting with the Koomson and his guardians, the Executive Director of the GNPC Foundation, Dr Dominic Eduah, described Stephen’s circumstance as an unfortunate situation deserving immediate attention, hence, GNPC’s decision to intervene.

“We are enrolling him on the GNPC scholarship immediately to put his dreams of becoming a lawyer back on track and we are just as excited to offer him an opportunity to facilitate this in consonance with the tenets of our Education & Training mandate,” he is quoted to have said.

He continued to say that the corporation in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders, has set in motion plans to ensure Stephen gains admission into the University of Ghana Law School by the next Academic year.

Koomson expressed his sincere gratitude to GNPC for making the dream of his life and future become a reality.

He declared his willingness to continue studying and serve as an honourable representative of the GNPC.

A photo of Stephen Koomson surfaced on social media covered in the mud as a result of the activities involved in the act, indicating that he had recorded an impressive 5As and 3Bs across various subjects in the 2021 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) but has since had his education curtailed by the lack of support and this, according to him, led to his involvement in small-scale illegal mining (Galamsey).

This caught the eyes of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to act.

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