Government handling scholarships well - Scholarship Secretariat

The Akufo-Addo-led government has demonstrated enough commitment towards strengthening the scholarship scheme in the country, Registrar at the Scholarship Secretariat, Kingsley Agyemang, has said.

According to him, for the first time in ten years, government owes just GHS64 million for one term of feeding grants to schools in the three regions of the north. He noted that it was unprecedented in the history of the Northern Scholarship for a government to be so committed to education in that part of the country.

Mr Agyemang made this disclosure on the sidelines of a training workshop for bursars and headmasters in the Northern Region. The meeting was to build their internal mechanisms and prepare them adequately for the smooth running of the free Senior High School programme.

He revealed that school heads are excited about the new development because they do not have to issue threats of closing down schools as a result of government’s indebtedness.

Mr. Agyemang said just as the government has shown commitment to executing the free Senior High School (SHS) programme by making money available, same has been replicated in the northern scholarship programme.

The scholarship secretariat Registrar said his office is currently waiting for the schools to present their second term claims for processing. He said the government is very much committed to ensuring the education sector was equipped to deliver, adding that government does not also owe stipends to foreign students for the 2017 academic year.

The commitment, he said, has been appreciated by the National Union of Ghana Student in Cuba, who, in a letter, commended the government for the enormous work it has done.

He said this year, government has already paid stipends from January to March and owes just one month of bilateral scholarships.

“This is unprecedented,” Mr Agymang reiterated.