TEMA METRO ASSEMBLY SUPPORTS NEEDY STUDENTS (PAGE 17)

THE Tema Metropolitan Assembly has awarded scholarships to 40 brilliant, needy students to cover the period of study in second-cycle institutions of their choice in the country.
This is the fourth batch of students to be awarded scholarships since its introduction in 2005. By 2007, the assembly had spent a total of GH¢ 98,629.98 on the scholarship programme.
The Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr David Quaye Annang, explained that the primary objective of the TMA annual scholarship award scheme was to give the brilliant, needy students the opportunity to develop their potential to the fullest.
He noted that the government recognised that every child was important and therefore should not be deprived of their education because of poverty.
Mr Annang urged the recipients to be disciplined and study hard or stand the risk of losing the support because there were other qualified pupils on the waiting list.
He said some parents had taken advantage of the government’s decision to absorb school fees of basic and senior high schools to shirk their responsibilities towards their children in school.
Mr Annang said some children went to school in tattered school uniforms and without pens while others were kept at home to trade or farm.
Mr Annang said the introduction of the School Feeding Programme had seen significant improvement in school enrolment.
Since its inception till the end of May 2008, the government had spent about GH¢1.2 million in the Tema metropolis.
The Metropolitan Director of Education, Mrs Victoria Opoku, commended the assembly for the efforts it was putting in to make education attractive to people in the metropolis.
Mrs Opoku noted that to qualify for the award, the child needed to be brilliant and needy and cautioned that the scholarship would be withdrawn in the event of poor performance.
She reminded them of how some children could not continue their education because of poverty and therefore urged them to ensure that they guarded against things that would affect their studies.
Mrs Opoku asked the assembly to increase the number of beneficiaries of the scheme to cover as many children as possible.
She pointed out that the nation needed development and said that could only be achieved through education.