Over 593 brilliant and needy students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) have received laptops to support their education.

The project dubbed; ‘Support One Needy Student with One Laptop’ (SONSOL), solicits the support of all stakeholders to provide one laptop to such students. The laptops, valued at GH¢2.96 million, were donated by corporate organisations, alumni of the university and some distinguished personalities.

The beneficiaries were selected from over 4,375 applicants. For freshers, their WASSCE aggregates were not to exceed 18 and for continuing students, they should have attained a CWA of at least 55.00. In addition, all students who were already benefiting from any scholarship or bursary above GH¢2,000 were not eligible for the award.

The Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, Prof Rita Akosua Dickson, in a brief remark, said, “When we published the call for students to apply to be considered for the laptops, we had an overwhelming number and we only have a limited number of laptops to give out,” she noted.“

Considering the number of laptops we have received and the number of students needing genuine help after the stringent, water-tight screening, we can only appeal for more laptops even beyond today’s ceremony,” she added.

Presenting the 50 laptops to the university, the Director for Communications & Corporate Affairs of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Mrs Emma Akyea-Boakye, in her solidarity message, said this innovation by the university was in line with the company’s mission of improving lives of the people and their environment.

She was of the view that the laptops will go a long way to assist the students in their research studies, adding that “we are not in normal times and the COVID-19 has turned things to virtual system.” She reiterated that Jospong Group and Zoomlion will continue to support the university.

Other representatives from Zoomlion were Corporate Affairs Manager (Zoomlion), Mr. Daniel Ohene Obeng, and General Manager of Ashanti East (Zoomlion Ghana Limited), Mr. Franklin Ofori Akuffo.

Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Henrietta Agyei-Yeboah thanked donors and promised the laptops “will be put to good use to achieve the main aim behind the initiative.”

Companies that supported the initiative included Stanbic Bank, ABSA Bank, CBG, SIC, Vodafone Ghana, Stanbic Bank, ABSA Bank and Tobinco Group of Companies.

Others were Multinec Enterprise, Standard Chartered, Director of Urban Roads, Kumasi, Lawyer Agyei Baffour, Andysarp Furniture and Ing. Nana Poku Agyemang.