Saltpond Offshore Producing Company Limited (SOPCL), a wholly Ghanaian-owned oil producing company, has given 18 brilliant but resources-constrained students from its area of operation scholarships to pursue senior high school education.

SOPCL has so far spent about Gh¢30,000 under the scheme which started in 2009, Mrs Jayne Anaman, Human Resources and Administrative Officer of the Company, said when she presented the 2011-2012 awards to the parents and guardians of the beneficiaries at Saltpond on Friday.

She said the awards were of three categories– those attending first class schools that charged higher fees received Gh¢600 while others received Gh¢500 with day students taking Gh¢400 a year.

Mrs Anaman explained that, supporting the education of the human resource in its area of operation was in consonance with the Company’s mission statement: Harnessing the Strength of the West African Sub-Region;adding that it had also supported the health sector by providing a generator at the Maternity Unit of the Saltpond Government Hospital.

She said the operations of SOPCL put Ghana on the oil map of the world and thereby attracted investors into the oil sector of the economy.

Mr. Jacob Aggrey Fynn, a parent said “but for the support for my child, he would be at home” and expressed his appreciation for the assistance.

Mr. John Menyah, 19, a former student of Breman Asikuma Senior High School, a beneficiary, said the ordeal of being sent home to collect his fees ended when he benefitted from the scheme.

He obtained aggregate 13 at the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination in 2011.**