Forty-Five female students from mining communities and studying at the University of Mines and Technology, UMaT, have received GH¢460,000 scholarship package to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, STEM, programmes.
Undergraduate beneficiaries each received GH¢10,000, while postgraduate students were presented with GH¢15,000.
Speaking on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer of MIIF during the presentation of the scholarship package at UMaT in Tarkwa, a Board Member of MIIF and MP for Ahafo Ano South-East, Yakubu Mohammed, said the scholarship is to empower women in mining communities through education and produce researchers for government’s research objectives.
“My advise to the beneficiaries is for them to keep studying, because the selection was based on needy but brilliant from the area. I will also entreat other female students from the area to take inspiration from this and study hard, so they can also be considered next time. The selection process was purely based on those qualified and not on favouritism. As you know, the President also has a reset agenda, and this is part of the reset agenda to give more women chance. We at MIIF are also part of the reset agenda and want to invest well to make sure that, wherever the Minerals Funds goes, it brings a good result,” he said.
Yakubu Mohammed-MP/Board Member, MIIF
Chairperson of the MIIF Women In Mining Communities, WOMCOM Scholarship Scheme, Theresa Gyasi-Antwi, said the initiative intentionally targets female students at UMaT, with the aim to close the gender gap in STEM education.
She explained that males still dominate STEM education, hence the scholarship to encourage more women to pursue careers in STEM.
Theresa Gyasi-Antwi-Chairperson, MIIF WOMCOM Scholarship Scheme
Madam Gyasi-Antwi emphasized that the concentration on mining communities was deliberate, as MIIF’s mandate is to reinvest royalties generated from mineral resources.
Tarkwa Nsuaem, Issah Taylor, on his part, expressed gratitude to MIIF for the STEM education support in his constituency, and therefore challenged the beneficiaries to live up to expectation through hard work.
This brings the total number of beneficiaries to 83 since the MIIF’s scholarship programme inception but targeting 100 beneficiaries by close of year.
Source:Lovinghananews.com
