By Yussif Ibrahim
Kumasi, Oct. 14, GNA – Two Hundred and fifty (250) students from the Jackson College of Education (JCE) have been presented scholarships at a ceremony held at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi.
Some of the recipients visibly shed tears as they were called to receive their package, which to them was a timely intervention to keep them in school amid economic difficulties.
They recounted the struggle to pursue their ambitions of upgrading themselves through distance learning and how the scholarship came in handy for them.
The College, whose vision is to train students from deprived communities to teach in their respective localities after completion, carefully selected the awardees from all its learning centres across the country.
In its quest to support the needy and underprivileged students with a long-term vision of creating equal opportunities for pupils in deprived communities, the College solicited funds from both domestic and international donors to bailout students who were in dire need of financial aid.
Among the donors are Investisseurs & Partenaires, a French investment company, Ghana India Trade Advisory Chamber, Jackson Foundation, Deen Foundation, as well as some individuals living abroad.
About 60 of the beneficiaries also received smart phones in addition, to aid their online studies having been identified as using phones that were not fit for the purpose.
Mr Daniel Jackson, the Pro-Director of the College, said beyond providing their students with quality tuition, JCE further prioritised their welfare.
He said with so many of their students coming from deprived communities, the College saw the need to take steps to cushion them against the harsh economic conditions in terms of their abilities to pay their fees.
The College engaged various organisations home and abroad to raise funds to support those who genuinely needed help.
“Jackson is also the only college that allows students to pay fees in a ‘susu-like’ manner where they can pay bits by bits even if you want to pay one cedi we don’t mind,” he explained how flexibility of their fees.
He said the vision of the College was to bring hope to children in unserved communities by training professional teachers from their communities to bridge the yawning gap.
“We are here to make sure that our students go through school not just for the certificates but to contribute their quota to society to build a sustainable country,” Mr Jackson said.
Mrs Theodosia Jackson, the Principal of the College, said the decision to award the scholarships was informed by the fact that most of the students were scattered all over the hinterlands with real financial challenges.
She said children born in these areas were automatically disadvantaged because most of the teachers, who taught them were not professionals, hence the target of the College was to train such teachers to provide quality tuition for the kids.
GNA