Registrar of Scholarships Mr Kingsley Agyemang has cautioned persons in need of Government of Ghana Scholarships to avoid the services of so called middlemen who promise them to be of help.
According to the Registrar, the Secretariat does not engage the services of third parties in awarding scholarships to those who qualify.
He gave this caution yesterday after being awarded the third best Chief Executive Officer by the Association of Aides to Regional Chairmen of the New Patriotic Party.
“I want to sound a caution to all Ghanaians. Before I took office there were news of people trying to act as middlemen and agents for the scholarship secretariat. I want Ghanaians to know that no person has been appointed to act as a middleman or any agency created by the secretariat to do our work for us. Our services are entirely free and nobody should give any money to anybody who might say he/she can influence the secretariat to give the person a scholarship,” he said.
Bringing scholarships closer
Mr Agyemang said in order to ensure that scholarships are brought to the doorsteps of every Ghanaian, the newly introduced District Scholarship Review Committee will ensure that applicants, rather than coming all the way to its office in Accra, are able to access scholarships at their various districts thereby achieving the aim of accessibility.
“Secondly, the District Scholarship Review Committee will ensure transparency and fairness so that those who hitherto could not access can now be eligible for selection,” the Scholarship Registrar said.
“The Districts assemblies will be responsible under our guidelines for publishing scholarship openings using the district information channels such as community information centres, church announcements, mosque publications, among others, receiving applications, shortlisting applicants within their enclaves who will then appear before them,” Mr Agyemang explained.
According to him, the Composition of the District Scholarship Review Committee will be made up of the District or Municipal Chief Executive officer, a representative from the traditional authority which is very dominant within the district, a representative from the Ghana Education Service or from any tertiary institution in the district, and two other representatives to be appointed by the Scholarship Secretariat.
“After the interview had been done by the district, a recommendation will be made to the Central Scholarship Review Committee secretariat which will then award the scholarship to the deserving applicants,” he said.
No political influence
He said the days when the Secretariat was politically influenced was over and that the neutrality of the District Scholarship Review Committee panel will not allow that.
“This is a district affair, a local governance affair. This is something a person like me who sits in Accra cannot control. It even doesn’t lie with the MCE or DCE who is a political appointee to even decide who gets the scholarship because there are traditional appointees and other reps from GES who are apolitical, besides the work of the District Scholarship Review Committee is only a recommendation which is subjected to a further scrutiny by the Central Scholarship Review Committee made up of more than ten institutional representation,” he said.
GHC230m arrears cleared
He said a debt of GHC230 million inherited from the previous administration, which resulted in Ghana being blacklisted has been paid through the able leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Mr Agyemang stressed that the debt put a strain on students’ studies outside the country.
“As at the end of December 2016, there was a debt of 230 million cedis. As I speak to you now, all has been cleared. We have paid everybody on Government of Ghana scholarships worldwide and students are so happy and are very thankful for the government’s commitment to education,” Mr Agyemang said.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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