The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has offered scholarships to about 900 students in 20 universities who are pursuing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics course as part of efforts to promote science education in the country.

According to GNPC, each student is receiving a bursary of 9000 cedis per year and it covers tuition, accommodation, and other expenses.

The General Manager in charge of sustainability at GNPC, Dr Kwame Baah Amoah Baah-Nuakoh disclosed this when he presented some laboratory equipment and consumables to the Science Laboratory Technology Department of the Accra Technical University.

He explained that hitherto GNPC was only offering scholarships to Ghanaians going to study outside but said they have decided to expand it to cover those who are studying science courses in the various universities in the country.
He said the objective of the scholarship is geared toward capacity building for the youth in the area of science and technology.

“This basically fits into our agenda to provide capacity development for our Ghanaian youth, so that we can get trained for not only in oil and gas industry but upgrade skills in general as far as the economy is concerned,” he stated.

He noted that because of the support GNPC is offering to tertiary institutions, it has received several proposals from a number of universities for support in one way or the other.

He indicated the setting up a professorial chair in the University of Ghana, Legon, University of Cape Coast(UCC), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology(KNUST) and University of Mines and Technology(UMaT) was based on the proposals GNPC received.

According to DrBaah-Nuakoh, each of the four universities would receive $250,000 annually for four years to enable them to build the capacity of lectures and also undertake research works.

He hinted that one of the things his outfit is considering is setting up of Boot Camp stressing that the focus of the initiative is to build the capacity of science teachers.

“Just yesterday I received a delegation from the chemistry department of the University of Ghana and they have agreed to host the first Boot Camp,” he revealed.

Source:MyNewsGH.com