The Member of Parliament for Gushegu constituency in the Northern Region and Deputy Minister for Transport, Hon Alhassan Sulemana Tampuli, has disbursed funds to support about two hundred and twelve (212) needy students in his constituency to pursue tertiary education.
A total amount of two hundred thousand, nine hundred and seventy Ghana cedis (GHS200,970) was released on Monday, April 15, 2024, to assist both new entrants and continuing students offering various undergraduate courses in the Universities and training colleges across Ghana.
For the past four years, over 500 children from underprivileged families have received financial support from the former NPA Chief Executive Officer whose ambition is to ensure that at least one graduate is produced in every family in the constituency through the Tampuli Education Fund.
Adam Mandeeya Mariam, a 26-year old mother of one, offering BSc in Basic Education at the University for Development Studies (UDS) said she is receiving the support for the second consecutive year and underscored that the MP’s intervention has been so helpful to her as someone from a broken home.
From a family where none of her siblings have had formal education, the level 300 student said she is working assiduously to change the narrative in her family.
“For me, doing this is not for myself but for my entire family as a whole because if I should finish this at the end of the day, I would be able to support my younger one to become better people in future” she stressed.
The Gushegu legislator addressing the media said there is a clear criteria for selection of the beneficiaries across the constituency.
He clarified that a beneficiary must be a constituent with a valid national ID card, in addition to their admission letter from any accredited tertiary institution in the country. He emphasized an applicant who fell short of the criteria will not be considered regardless of their political affiliation.
“In doing this support, we have identified some disciplines that we do not have students pursuing them especially in the area of legal studies. So this year, we have full scholarship for students reading law and we have five of them; we have eight engineering students and they have all received full scholarships. Every medical student that we have is also going to receive full funding to the seventh year” Mr. Tampuli announced.
The Deputy Transport Minister said the ultimate objective of the initiative is to ensure these children become useful to themselves and their families as well as the society in general.
“Some of us didn’t get this opportunity but it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t support our younger siblings. What I tell them is that we’re supporting them today with the hope that in the fullness of time they will also be able to support many more students when they are in the position to do so” he posited.
Mr. Alhassan Sulemana Tampuli admonished the students to take their studies seriously and further advised those in the same institutions to help each other in their academic activities.