Tullow Ghana hosts NSMQ participants – Promoting STEM education

Tullow Ghana Limited (TGL) earlier this month hosted semi-finalists of the 2018 edition of the National Science & Maths Quiz (NSMQ) to a tour of its offices.

The visit to TGL’s offices in Accra was part of the Company’s sponsorship of the 25th anniversary of the National Science and Maths Quiz festival in Ghana.

The NSMQ semi-finalists who visited TGL included Prempeh College, Mfantsipim School, Keta SHS, Mawuli School, Krobo Girls SHS and the Ghana National College. The aim of the visit was to provide the science students with more insight into the varied career opportunities available to them in the oil and gas industry beyond the traditional career choices.

The tour also provided an opportunity to showcase Tullow’s STEM programme (Science Technical Engineering and Maths), which is one of three social investment pillars that also include Enterprise Development and Shared Infrastructure.

The STEM initiative is focused on encouraging students to consider Science Technical Engineering and Maths education as a viable choice for future career decisions. It includes interventions for kindergarten, primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions.

STEM projects funded by Tullow include capacity building for teachers, rehabilitation/construction of science laboratories and other infrastructure, and scholarships to tertiary students. The Company has partnered with Ashesi University, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Ghana, to award scholarships to develop and build the capacity of young Ghanaians to take up careers in science, engineering and technical fields.

The day’s visit by the NSMQ semi-finalists had a two-part programme which included presentations on Tullow’s operations and work shadowing of TGL staff to see what they do daily. This gave the students an opportunity to engage with some of the technical staff and have a practical experience of their job.

Addressing the students and their teachers at the completion of the tour of TGL, Cynthia Lumor, TGL’s Director for External Affairs and Social Performance, congratulated the students for reaching the semi-final stage of the competition.

She wished the finalists well in the final contest at the time, saying; “TGL’s aim for supporting the NSMQ festival as a platinum sponsor is aligned with the Company’s long-term vision to support the development of world class Ghanaian professionals for the development of Ghana’s growing oil and gas sector and other industries.

“It is for this reason that our socio-economic investments have been refocused on capacity building through STEM education from the basic to tertiary level,” she added.

The group of 20 students and their teachers expressed gratitude to TGL for the opportunity to visit the Company’s offices and expressed their wish for another opportunity to engage with staff in the future. “I see that a lot of the engineers do their work using modern technology and that is interesting. I joined a meeting with one of the teams and it was good to see how those in Ghana work with their other colleagues in the London office. It has shown me how things can be done”, one of the students remarked.

To give true meaning to Tullow’s bid to drive its STEM initiative, Tullow Ghana Limited sponsored the Sci-Tech fair which was started in 2017 as part of the activities for the festival.

Targeted at basic and Senior High School students, the fair offered them the opportunity to showcase their science projects. As a sponsor, TGL used the opportunity to educate the students on its operations and the oil and gas business in general.

The 2018 NSMQ ended on Thursday July 5, with St. Peters Senior High School being adjud winners, beating off competition from West Africa Secondary School and Adisadel College.