Tullow Ghana Limited (TGL) earlier this month hosted semi-finalists from the 2018 edition of the National Science & Maths Quiz (NSMQ) to a tour of its offices.

The visit to TGL’s offices in Accra was part of the Company’s sponsorship of the 25^th anniversary of the National Science and Maths Quiz festival in Ghana.

The NSMQ semi-finalists who visited TGL included Prempeh College, Mfantsipim School, Keta SHS, Mawuli School, Krobo Girls SHS and Ghana National College. The aim of the visit was to provide the science students with more insight into the varied career opportunities available to them in the oil and gas industry beyond the traditional career choices.

The tour also provided an opportunity to showcase Tullow’s STEM programme, which is one of three social investment pillars that also include Enterprise Development and Shared Infrastructure.

Tullow’s Science Technical Engineering and Maths (STEM) initiative is focused on encouraging students to consider STEM education as a viable choice for future career decisions, and includes interventions for kindergarten, primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions. STEM projects funded by Tullow include capacity building for teachers, rehabilitation/construction of science labs and other infrastructure, and scholarships to tertiary students.

The Company has partnered with Ashesi University, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology and the University of Ghana, to award scholarships to develop and build the capacity of young Ghanaians to take up careers in science, engineering & technical fields.

The day’s visit by the NSMQ semi-finalists had a two-part programme which included presentations on Tullow’s operations and work shadowing of TGL staff to see what they do daily. This gave them an opportunity to engage with some of the technical staff and have a practical experience of their job.

Addressing the students and their teachers at the completion of the tour of TGL, Cynthia Lumor, TGL’s Director for External Affairs and Social Performance, congratulated the students for reaching the semi-final stage of the competition. She wished the finalists well in the final contest.

She said, “TGL’s aim for supporting the NSMQ festival as a platinum sponsor is aligned with the Company’s long-term vision to support the development of world class Ghanaian professionals for the development of Ghana’s growing oil and gas sector and other industries. It is for this reason that its socio-economic investments have been refocused on capacity building through STEM education from the basic to tertiary level”.

The group of 20 students and their teachers expressed gratitude to TGL for the opportunity to visit the Company’s offices and expressed their wish for another opportunity to engage with staff in the near future.  “I see that a lot of the engineers do their work using modern technology and that is interesting. I joined a meeting with one of the teams and it was good to see how those in Ghana work with their other colleagues in the London office. It has shown me how things can be done”, one of the students remarked.

To give true meaning to Tullow’s bid to drive its STEM initiative, Tullow Ghana Limited sponsored the Sci-Tech fair which was started in 2017 as part of the activities for the festival. Targeted at basic and senior high school students, the fair gave them  the opportunity to showcase their science projects.  As a sponsor, TGL used the opportunity to educate the students on its operations and the oil and gas business in general.

The quiz ended on Thursday 5^th July and St. Peters Senior High School went on to win the 2018 National Maths and Science Quiz, beating off competition from West Africa Secondary School and Adisadel College.