Scholarship Directory and Financial Assistance book launched
The African Business Centre for Developing Education (ABCDE),a non-governmental organisation, has launched a scholarship directory in Accra to serve as a one stop access to scholarships to parents.
The book is a source of information for parents and guardians, who are seeking scholarships and financial assistance to support their children’s education.
The book would reduce the burden on both parents and government in the educational sector and greatly help students and educational institutions seeking scholarships.
Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Founder of the Organisation, said the directory was necessitated by the persistent request by students and parents for financial assistance when he was a Minister o Education.
Dr Spio-Garbrah said after several months of receiving such request and assisting a number of parents and students, he decided to find a way out of helping those in need.
He said the idea of the directory was also communicated to some educational institutions and stakeholders in the educational sector, who thought the idea was useful and supported it.
He said the vacuum in relevant practical knowledge was because the education most African intellectuals and professionals received were unrelated to the natural resources around them and the fundamentals of their country’s economic production.
Dr Spio-Garbrah said there is total disconnect between what most African economies need and the knowledge content of graduates, most African schools and colleges were producing.
He said while governments, academia and the private sector could do more to bridge the wide knowledge gap that made many graduates unemployable, the ABCDE could play a critical role in addressing the problem.
He said ABCDE was established to initiate and manage a range of programmes to bring professionals and industrialists into classroom to help change the limited range of knowledge content most students are often exposed to.
“This was done through internships, attachments, career counselling and guidance, industrial days, excursions, mentorships and other interventions, to bring the world of business and industry closer to classrooms”, he added.
He appealed to business captains to visit their alma maters and share their experiences to the students to establish a good relationship for effective network.
Mr Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of Education, said government is ready to partner all stakeholders in the educational sector to provide quality education.
He said the expansion of educational infrastructure is the government’s priority to help improve teaching and learning in the primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.
Source: GNA