MTN Ghana Foundation has awarded its first batch of 500 scholarships for the 2025/2026 academic year, supporting both students and teachers across the country.

Many young people pursuing education are confronted with financial difficulties, limited resources, and uncertainty, often disrupting their dreams.

The MTN Bright Scholarship will fund the educational expenses of 300 undergraduates in STEM, vocational, and technical fields and 200 teachers advancing their studies in public universities.

This year’s competition under the MTN Bright Scholarship drew 3,691 applicants, with 1,200 shortlisted for interviews before the final selection of 500 outstanding candidates from 42 public institutions nationwide.

The scholarships will cover tuition, accommodation, stipends, and laptops, ensuring recipients have the tools to study without distractions.

The intervention unlocks opportunity, empowers innovation, and creates possibilities for beneficiaries in engineering, ICT, and computer science; sciences; humanities; and business.

General Manager of Sustainability and Shared Value at MTN, Dr Isaac Mate, says the initiative reflects MTN’s commitment to breaking barriers in education, investing in dreams, and accelerating Ghana’s development.

The highlight this year is the inclusion of teachers and an increase in the number of award beneficiaries.

"The Bright Scholarship is not just breaking barriers; it is amplifying impact across disciplines, regions, and communities. These students are pursuing ways to contribute meaningfully to society," he said.

“We believe that investing in people is the surest path to bridging the poverty gap, improving livelihoods, and accelerating Ghana's development. We are investing in teachers and students concurrently because the students need teachers with the right competencies to teach them,” said Dr Mate.

The MTN scholarship scheme has supported an additional 1,720 students across the country.

Through the scheme, 10 students have emerged as valedictorians and overall best graduates, 520 have attained First-Class Honours, while 94 have graduated with Second-Class Upper Division.

Ashanti Regional Minister Dr Frank Amoakohene praised efforts to expand STEM education through private-sector support.

“The deliberate attempt to improve education in STEM is laudable. This shows how the private sector can align with the government to provide equal access to education to all Ghanaian children," he said.

“To beneficiaries, use the support as a point of reference to encourage other sector players to expand the private-public sector support for national development. I believe you are away; your duty now is to excel and live up to the expectation that has been handed to you,” he added.

Beneficiaries expressed joy and relief at the support, pledging to uphold their strong academic performance.

“I am proud to be a beneficiary and an awardee. You can imagine the joy in my heart. My assurance is that the grades were impressive; it will be my priority to live up to it, or better,” said Seth Sackey, a second-year student at the University of Education.

“I am thankful for this award. I had been running from house to house for extra classes to fend for my education. And I was struggling to keep up. Now I believe the stress is relieved,” Cybersecurity student at the University of Technology and applied sciences, Linda, said.

The MTN Ghana Foundation plans to award 1,500 scholarships over the next three years.