Awulae Blay IX supports 350 SHS freshers in Ellembelle to ease burden on parents

The Awulae Blay IX Scholarship Scheme has supported 350 Junior High School graduates in the Ellembelle District in the Western region who have gained admission into Senior High Schools.

Dubbed "Educational Support for Brilliant but Needy Students," the beneficiaries, all Form One boarding students, each received one metal trunk, one wooden chop box, a student mattress, a bucket and a mosquito net.

In a speech, Awulae Blay IX, Paramount Chief of the Eastern Nzema Traditional Area, assured that from next year, newly admitted Form One students would receive a complete set of provisions in their chop boxes, including a mattress, bucket, pillows, bed sheets, soap and a mosquito net.

Awulae Blay IX, who is also the President of the Eastern Nzema Traditional Council, said 70 students benefited from the package last year, adding that the scheme would be expanded yearly to alleviate the financial burden on parents.

He noted that although job opportunities abound in the Nzema area, most indigenes lacked the basic qualifications to take advantage of them.

The initiative, therefore, seeks to support schoolchildren to pursue higher education to take commanding heights in emerging opportunities in the area.

Awulae Blay IX announced plans to roll out a skills development and entrepreneurial training programme for those who could not access formal education, to equip them for life.

He also announced a scholarship package for 10 tertiary students to study abroad as petrochemical engineers by January and September next year and return home upon completion.

He disclosed that with a teacher deficit of 300 in the District, his office had requested 50 newly trained teachers from the Holy Child College of Education, out of which 30 had been posted by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to teach in Ellembelle.

Awulae Blay IX said he would do everything possible to push schoolchildren in the area to excel and would institute an award scheme for teachers, with the best teacher receiving a vehicle.

Awulae Bazil Kpole, Abusuakpanyinli (Family Head) of the Royal Ndweafo Clan at Atuabo, called on all sons and daughters of Ellembelle in the diaspora to support Awulae Blay IX's initiative to transform the area through quality education.

Nana Bonya Kofi, Chief of Basake, advised schoolchildren in Nzema to aspire to greater heights, attain higher qualifications and take commanding lead in emerging opportunities in the Petroleum Hub Development Project and the oil and gas industry.

Egya Ewule, a teacher who received the items on behalf of the Parent-Teacher Association of Ellembelle, expressed profound gratitude to Awulae Blay IX for the laudable and life-changing intervention in the education sector.