AngloGold Ashanti, Obuasi Mines, through its Community Trust Fund has awarded scholarships to 40 needy but brilliant students in tertiary institutions. All the 40 students are in AGA’s catchment areas.
Osei Tieku Raymond, a student of the Offinso College of Education expressed his appreciation to the Mine for the scholarship.
“When I got admission this year, how to pay for my school fees was an issue. So my parents went for a loan from the bank to pay my fees. Getting this scholarship has really made me very happy”, he said.
Raymond Osei Tieku is a native of Adansi Fomena.
The Trust Fund launched a similar scheme in 2015 for SHS students and after successful implementation of the scheme which benefited 100 students for two years, there was a need to consider assistance to students pursuing tertiary education within the area after the introduction of the Free SHS scheme by the Government.
The Community Trust Fund has operated since its inception in 2012. The primary source of funding into the trust fund was the 2004 stability agreements requirement of 1% of profit after tax. Since 2012, there has been zero inflows from this agreement into the fund because of no profit by AGAG.
The new arrangement under the Development Agreement signed with the Government of Ghana in 2018, requires the mine to contribute USD2/Oz of gold produced into the trust fund. AGAG by way of its commitment to diversifying the funding streams of the Trust Fund, have transferred the management of some assets to the Trust Fund and in July, 2019 paid an amount of US$200,000.00 to the Trust Fund as operational support.
Criteria for Selection of a Student for The Educational Grant
A student must be brilliant but needy and willing to pursue higher education in order to qualify for the scholarship. A student who qualifies should also be a native of AGA Obuasi Mining Area and should demonstrate this by evidence of proof of stay in the area for not less than 6 years.
A student must obtain aggregate 6 to 12 for university students and 6-18 for students attending Colleges of Education. A student’s continual benefit of the educational grant would depend on good conduct and demonstration of academic brilliance.
123 students applied for this year’s scholarship but 40 students consisting of 20 males and 20 females were selected.