The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Foundation has hosted a Career Guidance and Counselling fair for final year JHS and SHS students and their parents at the St. Teresa Catholic Church in Essikado.

The event in partnership with the Office of the Omanhene of the Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, was part of the 2022 Kuntum Festival celebrations of the Ahanta-Evalue-Nzima belt of the Western Region.

Officials from the foundation's Education and Training Unit engaged over 450 students from West Ridge JHS, St. Marks Anglican Basic School, Nana Katabra ‘B’ JHS, among others, sharing relevant information to help guide their future career choices.

The team also used the opportunity to share scholarship opportunities available to all Ghanaians, including details about GNPC foundation’s annual local, and foreign scholarships, the required documentation needed, as well as the application process.

Mrs. Shirley Aboagye Aniagyei from the foundation advised the students, saying, “one of the biggest hurdles to education is financial constraints, and although there are scholarship awarding bodies ready to assist you to further your education, there are limited slots available."

She added that "to secure one, your application has to stand out, which means you must take your studies seriously and get exceptional grades.”

Mrs Aniagyei noted that the foundation has awarded 5550 scholarships since 2017, and urged the students to apply when they become eligible.

Representatives of the Metro Education Director and the Regional Guidance and Counselling Team were also present to share valuable information with the students and answer all their questions.

Also in attendance were Nana Egya Kwamina, the chief of Apremdo, who served as the chairman of the Career Guidance and Counselling fair, as well as Nana Ekua Kodu II, the Paramount Queen Mother of the Essikado Traditional Area, and Nana Taarmah II, Queen Mother of Eshiem.

This event was preceded by a developmental dialogue on education with members of the Essikado community, at the forecourt of the Nana Kobina Nketsia School, Essikado.

This was aimed at positioning the Traditional Area as the Educational hub of the Western Region. In attendance were the Regional Education Director, Mrs. Felicia Agyeibea Okai, the MP for the area, Joe Ghartey, as well as the Dean of UMAT School of Railway and Infrastructure Development, Prof Yakubu Isaaka.

The GNPC Foundation was honoured to have supported the 2022 Essikado Kuntum Festival and to have participated in the all-important conversation on education, as it ties in directly with one of its core operational pillars, Education & Training.

Representatives of the foundation noted that education and training are not only responsible for running the scholarship programme, but also for building state-of-the-art laboratories, classroom blocks and boarding facilities across schools in Ghana.