Bryan Acheampong Foundation (BAF) in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service (GES), on16th November 2021, launched the Mentee Scholarship Project at a successful event at the Kwahu East District Assembly Conference Hall.
In attendance were Nana Agyare Yeboah Asuamah II, the Mahwerehene of Kwahu, the District Education Director Mr. Robert Andah Monney, the District Chief Executive in the person of Hon. Isaac Agyapong, Rev. Opoku Asare – Resident head pastor at the Ramseyer Presbyterian Church Abetifi, as well as the BAF team led by the Director for Development Mr. Frank Armoo.
The purpose of the new Mentee Project is to support brilliant but needy pupils from the basic level all the way up to the tertiary level.
This is a subproject under the general scholarship programmes being implemented by the Foundation. Other programmes under this include the Undergraduate and the Postgraduate Scholarship Schemes.
The Foundation is not oblivious of the fact that the government of the day has implemented a system of free education right up from basic school to the senior high school level.
In some cases, however, fee payment is necessary, particularly in private institutions.
This is also an area where the BAF’s project comes in as highly beneficial.
63 exceptionally intelligent but needy pupils were selected from all basic schools within the Kwahu East District based on the programme’s strict criteria.
These students competed for a slot on the project and out of the total number, 30 were selected to be awarded the scholarship on this Mentee Project.
This project spans beyond providing the academic needs of these children but delves into offering emotional, psychological and even other forms of domestic support and counselling.
Beneficiaries shall be provided with school bags, books, stationery, socks, shoes and in some cases domestic amenities such as electricity and water supply shall be made available depending on their living conditions.
It is the belief of the Foundation that their living conditions play a major role in how productive they are in their respective schools.
The GES Director, Mr. Andah Monney in his speech thanked the Foundation and also appealed to other philanthropists within the district to support the efforts of BAF.
He also gave assurances that GES shall encourage the teachers to give off their best in order to enhance the performance of the students.
The DCE, Hon. Isaac Agyapong also mentioned in his remarks that for education to be successful, there are four key stakeholders that need to pull resources to achieve the desired heights.
First, the students themselves, secondly their parents or guardians, the teachers and stakeholders such as the government, NGOs and other philanthropists.
He said that if the latter two do their part, but the first two do not make the best use of the opportunity given, then failure is inevitable.
Director for Development for BAF, Mr. Frank Armoo, assured all that the Foundation is committed to improving the general educational standards in the district and ultimately in the country as a whole.
So far, there has been a significant impact in this regard. Some of the Foundation’s other projects within the educational sector include;
1. The Teachers / Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme.
2. Undergraduate Scholarship Scheme.
3. The School Uniform Project.
4. Educational Material Support
5. Infrastructure Development Project. i.e KG Construction
In all, the Foundation spends approximately One million, three hundred thousand Ghana Cedis (Ghc1,300,000.00) yearly as its contribution to the educational sector alone and this accounts for its largest expenditure.
The Foundation wishes to extend its collaborative arm to individuals and corporate institutions alike in order to scale up some of these programmes and make them accessible to an even wider population.
