The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and HESS Ghana Exploration Limited (HESS), have awarded academic scholarships to 125 “brilliant but needy” Ghanaian students, within the frontline communities of their operational area in the Western Region.

The scholarship is in line with their corporate social responsibility commitments towards the welfare and development of the people of Ghana.

Each of the beneficiaries will enjoy fully-funded packages including free tuition, free educational materials, free accommodation, feeding and monthly stipend (pocket allowance) to study in selected Secondary, and Vocational, Technical and Health Training institutions for the period of their studies.

The Awards were announced by GNPC and Hess, at a colourful ceremony held in Nsein Senior High School, at Axim.

Acting Chief Executive of GNPC, Mr. Alexander Kofi-Mensah Mould and the Vice President of Hess Corporation in charge of Offshore Americas and West Africa, Mr. Robert Fast, jointly presented the scholarships to the beneficiaries.

The 125 beneficiaries for the 2015/2016 academic year are made up of 62 girls and 63 boys, although the policy is to have 60% females and 40% males.

The beneficiary students have joined 271 scholars who have already benefitted from the programme, bringing the total number to 396 beneficiaries.

The Scholarship is given to only fresh Junior High Schools (JHS) graduates who pass their exams and selected health assistants attached to the St. Martin de Pores hospital at Eikwe, in the Western Region.

The HESS-GNPC Scholarship Program is a joint collaboration between the Hess Ghana team and GNPC, launched in 2012 to support education, with a special emphasis on brilliant but needy students in the coastal districts of the Western Region.

Since its inception in September 2012, the program has benefited a number of students in the Jomoro, Ellembelle and Nzema East districts. Ahanta West and Shama districts have been added to this year’s so as to extend the benefits to a wider area for a bigger impact.

The beneficiary students will have secondary school education at Half-Assini SHS, Nkroful SHS and Nsein SHS. Those who opted for Technical and Vocational education will receive training at the Kikam Technical Training and St. Theresa’s Vocational Training Institutes respectively, whilst those with the desire to become Nurses are made to choose any Nursing Training School of their choice in Ghana.

Present at the ceremony also were Corporate Affairs Manager of GNPC, Mrs. Carmen Bruce-Annan, the General Manager for Hess Ghana, Sandra Gentile and other executives of the two companies. Traditional Leaders, opinion leaders, Teachers, Heads of Institutions in the area and delighted parents were in attendance to witness the presentations.