The Bethel Methodist Church in Takoradi has provided scholarships worth 3,200 Ghana cedis to 15 needy but brilliant students within the church to further their education. The scheme, known as the Education Scholarship Scheme (ESS) and launched on December 31, 2006 is under the Tertiary Education Sub-Committee of the Committee on Education and Youth (CEY) and had so far mobilised 10,000 Ghana cedis from individual contributions, donations from philanthropists and special contributions from church members. Presenting the cheques to the beneficiaries, Very Rev. Arthur Mensah, Superintendent Minister of the Church said the scholarships were aimed at assisting the beneficiaries to study hard and to contribute to society and the Church whatever educational skills they have acquired. He said the Church had established schools for the beneficiaries of the scholarship scheme as part of the Church's social responsibility. Rev. Mensah said the supplementary financial assistance was for persons pursuing tertiary education, vocational and technical education and informal education. He advised the beneficiaries to take their education seriously and ensure that they set good examples for others within their schools. Mr. Joshua Baidoo-Mensah, a member of the committee appealed to all church members to support the ESS, to enable more young people within the church to benefit. He reminded beneficiaries that the ESS disbursement would be based on their performance and they must therefore work hard to continue to benefit from it. The ESS has a Board of Trustees and a seven-member management committee, who are in-charge of the vetting, approval and disbursement of the funds. Mr. Baidoo-Mensah appealed to the general public to support the church in its quest to assist members to have access to tertiary education. The beneficiaries include three women and a person with disability. Source: GNA