By Mercy Arthur
Tema, June 19, GNA – The Volta River Authority has held the Employee Volunteer Programme for students of Tema Manhean Senior High School as part of its community development programmes.
The programmes include the Employee Volunteer Programme (EVP), educational scholarship, health, sanitation, and environmental activities, among others.
In an interview with Ghana News Agency in Tema on the sidelines of the programme, Mr. Samuel Fletcher, VRA Manager for Community Relations, said the programme was important because it brought the organization directly into contact with students in their institutions.
He said the idea was to take as many volunteer employees of VRA to be taken to the classroom to teach students in various subjects to complement the work of teachers.
Mr. Fletcher reiterated that the organization did its best through the investment of funds, which aid in the promotion of education and also helped students choose their career.
“VRA so far has hosted the employee volunteer programme for 20 schools, and promised to perform more tasks for schools,” he stated.
According to Mr. Fletcher, the employee volunteer programme was hosted for a day but had graduated into a two-day programme with the intention of adding more educational segments to the programme.
“It is our hope that in the future VRA will be able to absorb students who benefited from the tertiary educational scholarship after their national service to gain full employment,” he mentioned.
He, however, highlighted that during their 50th anniversary celebrations, they selected 50 students and signed them up for the scholarship scheme, but when the free SHS commenced, the organization took the decision to divert their funds into the technical and vocational educational training section to be piloted this year in as many public technical schools as possible.
Mr. Fletcher appealed to parents about their ability to try to identify the talents of their wards in their teen years because they learnt things on the internet by themselves.
They should coach their children and encourage them to choose good careers in the future.
Mr. Prince Tawiah, Principal Systems Administrator at VRA, also engaged the students on career guidance and the ability to make a decision for the future.
He told the students about the requirements for choosing a career, which were extensive training, purposefulness, discipline, persistence, and dedication.
“To achieve a good career of one’s choice, one needs to identify their strengths and weaknesses.
“Planning your future career is an essential part of one’s life; therefore, it calls for motivation and the assessment of one’s self for career planning in the future”, he added.
Speaking to Ms Bashiru Samiratu Issah, a science 1 student in Form 2, she mentioned that the career guidance coaching ideas would help her identify her weaknesses and work on them to achieve a better future career.
Miss Esther Ackaah, a Home Economics Food, Form 2A student, said that she had benefited from the programme and planning her career in the future was an important part of it.
She advised her colleagues to have ideas on how to choose a career and not to be moved by what people may say.
Ms Esther Bonney, a General Art 1 Form 3 student, also highlighted that focusing on your weaknesses would prevent you from choosing a career; therefore, parents should encourage their children to choose a career of their choice.
Mr. Samuel Binifo, the Headmaster of the school, expressed gratitude to the Volta River Authority for engaging the students through career guidance and the opportunity of hosting EVP as they shared their knowledge and experiences with the students.
GNA