Accra May 20, GNA-The government has inaugurated the COCOBOD Education Trust to build modern infrastructure at the basic level of schools in deprived cocoa-growing communities.
The initiative, which replaces the Cocoa Scholarship Scheme, is to bridge the educational and infrastructural gap between children in rural areas and their counterparts in urban areas.
It is also to support efforts to facilitate access to basic quality education delivery in cocoa-growing areas of the country.
Mr Peter Mac Manu, Chairman, COCOBOD, announced this at the inauguration of a five-member COCOBOD Education Trust in Accra.
The members of the Trust took the oaths of office and secrecy, administered by Mr Manu.
He said the decision to set up the Trust was mooted at a consensus from stakeholders including Members of Parliament, the Council of State, the Ghana Education Service, and the Cocoa Farmer Associations.
Mr Manu said the Scheme in the past years had been a beacon of hope for the young Ghanaians and provided access to secondary school education.
In September 2017, the government of Ghana, under the leadership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo, started the Free Senior High School Programme, and provided over one million students with access to education.
The Scheme, Mr Manu stated, played a key role in the country’s educational development, churning out 10,000 awards to various beneficiaries across the country’s senior schools.
“The Trust is a testament to our unwavering commitment to the well-being and prosperity of our cocoa farmers and their children,” he said.
He said investing in the country’s educational foundations created a lasting impact that would benefit generations, urging all stakeholders to rally behind the new initiative with enthusiasm and dedication.
Mr Ray Ankrah, the Deputy Chief Executive of COCOBOD in charge of Finance and Administration, said the Trust would help develop and build the manpower needs of children in deprived cocoa areas.
Dr Ernest Kwamina Addison, the Chairman of the Trust, thanked the government for the confidence reposed in them and pledged to discharge their mandate to their best abilities.
Dr Addison, also the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, said the foundation of education was an important pillar of progress and promised to strive and make a lasting impact to improve the lives of children in the cocoa-growing areas.
The newly inaugurated COCOBOD Education Trust members are Dr Addison; Dr Eric Nkansah, Director-General of the Ghana Education Service; Mr Bismarck Fuachie, 2022 National Best Cocoa Farmer; Dr Emmanuel A. Opoku, Deputy Chief Executive in Charge of Operations at COCOBOD and Mr Francis Opoku, Director, Legal and Solicitor Secretary, COCOBOD.
GNA