Bolgatanga, Aug. 27, GNA - Vodafone telecommunication company has signed a three-year partnership with Right to Dream Academy to offer educational support alongside sports to deprived children to enable them realize develop their talents.

The Right to Dream Academy is a charitable organization which was established in Ghana in 1999 and has since been offering education to deprived children to realize their educational goals and also sports.

Thirty-two (32) teams drawn from deprived communities in the Upper East Region made up of 16 teams each in the Under-12 and in the Under-14 category engaged in a competition to select players into the Academy.

In the U-12 division, Soccer Masters beat Batu Stars 1-0 whilst Black Arrows also defeated Soccer Master 3-2 via penalties in the U-14 category.

There were cash prizes and souvenirs for the winners in each of the categories, runners up and best players.

Mr Godwin Wellu, Media Relations Officer of Vodafone at a press briefing, said his outfit sealed the partnership last March with the Academy because it shared their vision of giving education to deprived children as well as developing their sporting talents.

He said the support also formed part of the corporate social responsibility of Vodafone and indicated that the support was crucial especially to the Upper East Region where poverty was endemic adding that education was one of the major tools that could be used to tackle the poverty issues in the area.

Mr Wellu said past records from the Academy had shown that majority of children who had undergone training through the institution were either pursuing further education in the United Kingdom and the United States of America while others were also enrolled as professional footballers in renowned clubs in Europe.

He expressed optimism that products of the Academy would be gainfully employed as officers, entrepreneurs or footballers which would translate into development of their individual communities and the nation as a whole.

Joe Mulberry, Coach and Head of the Recruitment Exercise of the Academy, said the Academy has about 21 graduates, some of whom were pursuing further studies in schools and universities, whilst others were playing professional football as well.

He said the Academy would continue to support deprived children with education alongside sports since it was one of its core objectives.

Mulberry said Bernard Abagre who hails from the Upper East Region and was a product of the Academy is currently on scholarship in one of the Universities in the United States of America.

The Right to Dream Academy is located at Akrade, near Akosombo in the Eastern Region where children across the country attend school alongside training in sporting activities particularly football.