TICO AWARDS SCHOLARSHIPS TO 100 STUDENTS (PAGE 11)

THE Takoradi International Company (TICo) has awarded a scholarship package of US$ 20,000 to 100 brilliant needy students.
The scheme, which is the seventh under its Kramer Scholarship Awards, is for 2008-2009 and forms part of the company’s corporate social responsibility.
The students were selected from the company’s operational communities in the Shama-Aboadze-Abuesi area of the Shama District.
The beneficiaries are pursuing programmes in first and second cycle schools as well as in tertiary institutions in the country.
Last year, the company spent about US$7,500 on 68 pupils and students from the area.
The scheme was introduced seven years ago with a personal donation of US$1,000 by the then General Manager of TICo, Mr Lawrence Kramer, who was then going on retirement.
The General Manager of TICo, Nana Osafo Kantanka, said the awards had come a long way in supporting the beneficiaries in the company’s catchment area.
“From a very humble beginning, we now have a well-structured process for the awards and we will ensure that it serves the purpose for which it was instituted,’’ he stated.
He expressed the company’s confidence in the beneficiaries using the opportunity to excel wherever they found themselves.
Nana Kantanka emphasised that the company was committed to the development and welfare of the communities located in its operational area.
The Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Mrs Angelina Baiden-Amissah, said the company had exhibited corporate social responsibility in the provision of library facilities, the institution of a scholarship scheme as well as the construction of drains for the communities.
Mrs Baiden-Amissah, who is also the Member of Parliament for Shama Constituency, commended the management of TICo for its support to the community.
She reminded the people that the educational reform made it mandatory for all children of school age to be in school by the year 2015.
The acting Director, Thermal Generation of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Mr Richard N. A. Badger, said over the years, the two companies had sought to improve the social and economic lives of the people in the surrounding communities.
"With the Kramer scholarship programme, TICo has consistently displayed that it holds in high esteem the value of education of the youth in the communities", he said, adding that "it is the youth who will provide leadership in these communities as well as develop them".
He said VRA recognised that education was key to the development of any group of people and support in this area needed encouragement from all quarters.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr A. E. Amoah, commended the management of TICo for institutionalising the scholarship scheme.
He advised the beneficiaries to study hard to justify that they really deserved the awards.
Present at the ceremony was the President and Chief Executive of TAQA Energy, Mr Peter Barker-Homek.