6-year-old boy whose image won 2017 SDGs Photo Contest gets educational scholarship

The Morgan International Community School(MICS) has presented a 100 percent educational scholarship package to 6-year-old Emmanuel Nana Yaw Oman Krado, the boy whose image was selected as one of the best focusing on poverty, a component of SDGs goal 1 which saw the Ghanaian student, Matthew Paa Kwesi Williams picking up the award of excellence in the 2017 International SDGs Students Photo Contest held last September in Japan, Tokyo.

According to the head of MICS, Felicia Sackey, the award served as a form of compensation to Nana Yaw Oman Krado to help him further his education with MICS from the basic to higher level.

"Nana Yaw, currently a kindergarten 2 pupil in one of the basic school's located at Gomoa Manso village in the Central Region has found a favour with us in bringing fame and fortune to our own Matthew Paa Kwesi Williams, therefore, we're privileged to honour him to further his education here with us here at MICS" said Felicia Sackey in an interview.

"The boy's father is deceased and is being cared for by a disabled parent so we think that it's a helping hand that we're giving to him, who knows, he could be the next Kofi Annan in his time," Felicia concluded.

Per the academic structure of the school, Nana Yaw is under-age therefore would be meant to go through language immersion program to enable him build his vocabulary to guarantee him access to join the school at the primary level.

The scholarship package which ranges between GH¢9,000.00 through 14,000 dollars per year was presented to Nana Yaw Oman Krado alongside with a 13-year-old girl, Sarah Ohenewaa Darko, also a beneficiary of the school's scholarship fund by founder of MICS, Obed Danquah at the School's Entrepreneurship Education Day program held at the Gomoa Manso school campus on December 15, 2017.

The event was on the theme: Advancing Entrepreneurial Skills and Abilities of the Youth through Creativity and Innovation.

It was aimed at imparting knowledge, information and skills on entrepreneurship to students so they can take action to become successful in the future.

Obed Danquah addressing participants at the event revealed the school will be collaborating with other institutions in the near future to offer as much as 100 percent scholarships packages to 100 students "to support the development of Ghanaian children to become job creators".

Matthew Paa Kwesi Williams, a 17-year-old student of MICS captured the image of Nana Yaw Oman Krado gathering sticks of disentangled brooms he was using to sweep and titled it "Struggle Child".

The picture which highlighted the Sustainable Development(SDGs) Goal 1; a true reflection of poverty depicted Nana Yaw, barefooted and squatting to collect the broomsticks, has a very pensive look away from the lenses into the distant.

His image was selected out of 1,000 entries submitted and he was adjudged the second prize winner for the 2017 International SDGs Photo Contest for Students.

The competition, co-organized by the United Nations Information Centre in Tokyo and the Sophia University, aims at encouraging students to "reflect on sustainable development from their own perspectives, express it through a photo, and share it with others".