The District Chief Executive (DCE) of Ellembelle in the Western Region, Kwasi Bonzoh has established the 'Ellembelle District Scholarship Scheme' to support brilliant but needy tertiary students in the area.

This maiden scholarship scheme is aimed at supporting tertiary students who come from Ellembelle District in order to render services to the district in future.

During the inaugural ceremony at the Emmanuel Assembly of The Church of Pentecost at Esiama, Ghana Gas Company donated one million Ghana Cedis to support the scholarship scheme.

The Senior Manager of Ghana Gas Company, Stephen Donkor joined the DCE for the area to distribute the financial packages to three hundred and sixty (360) students.

The 1.5 million Ghana Cedis scholarship scheme will cover the full tuition fees of the beneficiaries.

According to the management of the District Assembly, the scholarship scheme will be there to support tertiary students from the Ellembelle District in every academic year.

Speaking at the ceremony, the DCE, Kwasi Bonzoh commended Ghana Gas Company for supporting the District with one million Ghana Cedis.

He said, "education was very important for us as individuals and society and that education was a powerful element of human evolution thus making society more accepting and open-minded".

In outlining some importance of education to individual and a society as whole, the DCE indicated that, “Education is a powerful tool to sharpen critical-thinking, Education unearthed individual and societal potentials, Education makes it possible for individual and society to be financially stable, Education plays very critical role in building a modern society, Education opens doors for more opportunities and it also creates equal opportunity for people from difference socio-economic orientation.”

“His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana as a visionary leader muted and implemented Free SHS due to the above reasons to open-up the society and raise highly educated society for the development of the country…today's launch is basically an extension of the President’s vision by creating unlimited access to tertiary education no matter the economic circumstance of any community member who has an interest to further his or her education to the highest level”, he added.

Kwasi Bonzoh mentioned that the Ellembelle District Assembly for some years have been assisting brilliants but needy students from Assembly’s meagre resources to pay admissions and school fees for students in the various tertiary institutions in their quest to further their education to better their lives, hence the launch of the scholarship scheme was a huge relief to the assembly.

He appealed to other corporate institutions to come on board to make the scheme more responsive and effective for the benefit of the people.

"I will use this opportunity to appeal to companies such as ENI, Quatum and Adamus Mining Company in Ellembelle District to support the Ellembelle District Scholarship Scheme because we need more money to cater for their accommodation fees", he said.

He urged the beneficiary students to study hard, stressing that the ball was now in their court to utilise the opportunity being created for them to prove that the investment made in their education is worthwhile.

“Remember also to come back to serve the Ellembelle District during your national service and possible after service. Let me leave you with this advice, try as much as possible to be cleared about what you want and your efforts will decide what you deserve”, he charged them.

He revealed that, "this scholarship scheme is devoid of politics, the beneficiaries that you see here were not selected based on their political backgrounds, we considered them first as residents of Ellembelle District".

On his part, the Senior Manager of Ghana Gas Company, said the company would support the scholarship scheme with one million Ghana Cedis in every academic year.

He called on the beneficiaries to take education serious.

He revealed that Ghana Gas Company had planned to revamp the Aiyinasi health center

Speaking to one of the beneficiaries, Daniel Gyedu, he expressed his profound appreciation over the opportunity.

He also thanked the DCE for securing the scholarship for him and his other colleagues.

"This is the first time Ellembelle has seen this, our Ellembelle DCE has done well, God also bless Ghana Gas Company, this will help me to complete my program", he acknowledged.