Between 8am today and 5pm on June 15, this year, pre-tertiary students from all parts of the country would be eligible to submit entries on an essay competition themed: “How to manage refuse in Ghana while motivating citizens to keep their environments clean” to the MTN Ghana Foundation.

The activity, aimed at selecting 10 brilliant-but-needy students across Ghana (one from each region), to access a GH¢100,000 scholarship package, was launched yesterday in Accra by Kwasi Gyan Appenteng, president of the Ghana Association of Writers.

Mr Appenteng, who applauded the foundation for its efforts, said government alone could not support development in all sectors of the economy and stressed the need for corporate organizations to assist such initiatives.

The 10 finalists, to be made known in August 2012, will each be entitled to GH¢10,000 in support of their education. A panel of seasoned judges will review the entries and determine the winners. Entrants must be pre-tertiary students between the ages of 18 and 25 who have applied for admission in any of some 10 chosen institutions.

Cynthia Lumor, Executive Director of MTN Ghana Foundation, in a presentation stated: “MTN was committed to the promotion of academic excellence and will continue to make significant investments aimed at promoting personal growth and community development.

“I am proud to state that the scholarship scheme, instituted in the year 2000 by Spacefon, has been further enhanced by the MTN Ghana Foundation to help improve the educational base of Ghana. In all about 1,150 students have benefited from the scheme from the basic school level to the tertiary level.

The 10 million subscriber merit award is unique and offers another opportunity for us to add to the number of MTN scholarship beneficiaries we already have.”

Since its establishment in 2007, the MTN Ghana Foundation has invested about GH¢7 million into community development projects.