George Opare Addo, the Youth Development and Empowerment Minister, has said Ghana’s scholarships were administered like selling tomatoes in the market.
According to George Opare Addo, based on the investigation conducted by the Fourth Estate, scholarships in Ghana were administered like selling tomatoes.
He noted that Ghana does not have a standard procedure for administering scholarships.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, George Opare Addo detailed, “For instance, we did not have a standard procedure for administering scholarships, and so it was about whom you know,” he said.
“So the state will have to look for very smart, young, dedicated students and then sponsor their education so that they can go and come back or get training and then come and help fix the problem.”
He added, “From where I sit, while growing up, I knew that scholarships are for brilliant but needy students, people who could not afford or if the state had the need to address a certain challenge.”
“How scholarships have been administered was like selling tomatoes in the market. People go and then say, ‘Ah, let me pay ¢10 or ¢20,’ based on the investigations that the Fourth Estate did. So we wanted to address that challenge.”
The Youth Development and Empowerment Minister revealed that Ghana’s scholarship regime needs a centralised agency managing all the publicly funded scholarships.
He added, “I don’t think it is even proper for a government agency like GNPC to be administering scholarships when there is a scholarship agency or an authority or executive that is mandated by law to run.”
“There was no law as to how scholarships are administered. And so, where we are today, we needed to have a comprehensive program so that I know that this is the criteria that has been set out when I’m looking for a scholarship, this is what I have to meet, and this is how I apply.”
Speaking of Foreign scholarship, George Opare Addo asserted that the State must not spend money sending students abroad if those courses are taught locally.
He added. “That is what we have currently, as in the proposal in the bill, and Parliament will have to look at it and decide.”
“What it means is that we have no hope, no confidence in our own institutions, and if we cannot, as a government, support our institutions to build that kind of confidence… even some of the schools that some of these students leave Ghana to attend, if we compare their pedigree to UG, KNUST and UCC, you ask yourself, are we serious at all?”
“Yes, know some of the things Ashesi University is doing, and so if there is a need to fund some students. The cost will be part of the things we’ll look at. But you see, although Ashesi is not cheap, there are some programs that Ashesi is running that UG and KNUST are not running.”
“If Ashesi has that potential, why should I send a student out of Ghana when Ashesi can do it, when I can give the money to a Ghanaian entrepreneur, and the money is going to remain in Ghana.”
He added, “You see, one of the challenges is our exchange rates.”
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