25 tertiary students awarded scholarship in Wa East

Twenty-five students in the Wa East District have been awarded Government of Ghana Scholarship to study at the tertiary level, Mr Moses Jotie, the Wa East District Chief Executive (DCE), has said.

In all about GHc60, 000 had been disbursed to pay the fees of the 25 beneficiary students, who are expected to return to the District to serve after completing their studies to help boost the human resource base.

At a “Meet the Press” encounter at Funsi in the Wa East District, Mr Jotie explained that 41 students applied but only 25 were awarded.

The DCE indicated that the Government decentralised the Scholarship Scheme to enable qualified persons at deprived areas to also access, without being made a preserve of students in urban areas.

“The Assembly through its Common Fund and the Members of Parliament (MPs) Common Fund, have supported tertiary level students on year-on-year basis to enable them to access tertiary level education,” he added.

Mr Jotie explained that those initiatives, including the Free Senior High School Policy, were government’s efforts geared towards reducing the financial burden on parents in educating their children.

He said the Assembly was also working to ensure access to quality basic education at the district level through the expansion of school infrastructure.

On health, the DCE noted that the Assembly had committed about 60 per cent of its resources to the sector to secure timely access to quality healthcare at all levels.

“We have increased the number of Community-based Health Planning and Service (CHPS) compounds from 22 in 2017 to 27 in 2019. Still births have also been reduced from seven in 2017 to one as at the end of October 2019,” Mr Jotie said.

Mr Amidu Ishaq Chinnia, the Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, noted that the “Meet the Press” encounter would give the media the opportunity to scrutinize activities of the various assemblies and to hold them accountable.

This, he said, would enable the electorate to appreciate the performance of the Government, particularly at the grassroots.

Mr Chinnia appealed to beneficiaries of the Planting for Export and Rural Development to take the programme seriously to derive the maximum benefit.

He urged farmers to take good care of the trees, especially during the dry season, to justify the investment by the tax payer.