Govt honours 20 students

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March 6, 2009

Twenty students who distinguished themselves during last year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and exhibited exceptional qualities were given awards yesterday under the President’s Independence Day Awards for schoolchildren.
Under the awards, each student has been given a four-year scholarship to cover boarding and lodging for the period of studies in senior high school.
In addition, each of the students was presented with GH¢400, a special plaque, a book and a certificate signed by the President and the Minister of Education.
Nestle Ghana Limited, through its brand Milo, sponsored all aspects of the awards, except the four-year scholarship package. It was supported by Readwide and Fiesta Royal Hotel.
Each of the 10 regions produced two award winners, a boy and girl.
They are Esther Korkor Addo-Kumi and Leslie Atta Akplah, Central; Gloria Adoma Demitia Mensah and Kwabena Ababio Britwum, Ashanti; Grace Ayiwa Fosu and David Nkansah, Brong Ahafo; Judith Edem Foli and Frimpong Y. Sarpong, Eastern, and Annie Sarah Benson-Tambo and Solomon Nii Martey, Greater Accra.
Ther rest are Chiwasine Hanifa Iddrisu and Abdul-Rashid Alhassan, Northern; Yvonne P. Asomaning and Josbert Abasa Ayamvire, Upper East; Ishak N. Qudiratu and Mahama Baleng Wutor, Upper West; Esther Lilian Opusumah and Lawson Bosso-King, Volta, and Ophelia Esi Dickson and Matusala Kuma, Western.
President John Evans Atta Mills urged the Minister of Education to monitor the performance of the awardees to ensure that the investment the government was making in them yielded the desired results.
He said the award to the students was to honour and encourage the youth to take up the challenge and make the sky the limit in their studies.
“A strong pillar around which the government’s agenda will revolve is investing in people. And there is no better way to invest in people than to give them quality education,” he said, and appealed to Ghanaians to let the things that united them fly above the things that divided them.
He charged the award winners to be humble in all that they did, saying, “I entreat you to be modest and honest in whatever you do as you continue to strive for excellence.”
“Never cease to be respectful to your parents and teachers. Your academic brilliance should not make you think that you are more important than those who gave birth to you and those who are helping you to acquire knowledge,” he said.
The Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, said as part of the strategy of using education to motivate and develop the youth to effectively take up the mantle of leadership of the country, a number of schemes and programmes had been instituted.
The schemes, he said, included the President’s Independence Day Awards instituted in 1993.
He said the government had demonstrated its total commitment to the provision of accessible, equitable, affordable and quality education for all children, no matter where they were located in the country.
“The government will not relent in its efforts to provide the best form of educational opportunities so that this nation is guaranteed a prosperous future,” he stated.
Mr Semer Chedid, the Managing Director of Nestle Ghana Limited, pledged the commitment of the company to continue supporting education and sports.
In a message presented to the nation through President Mills, schoolchildren underscored the need for the peace the country was enjoying to be sustained to ensure its smooth development.
The message was presented in Akan, Ewe, Ga, Dagbani and English.