The Vodafone Ghana Foundation, the charity arm of Vodafone Ghana, has settled the fees of five needy students at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) as part of its strategy to improve lives and communities through education.

The foundation has presented a cheque for GHc 9,510 to the school's management to cover the fees of the five final-year students who "genuinely" could not pay their fees for the 2020/21 academic year.

Presenting the cheque at a brief ceremony, Head of Vodafone Ghana Foundation, Rev. Amaris Adjei Perbi, said the organisation was concerned about empowering and transforming society through education, hence the gesture.

He said the move was also in keeping with the foundation's Kindred Partnership Project, which was launched recently to support its sustainability initiatives to drive social change, improve lives and solve pressing social needs.

“For us, this is not just any gathering but a relationship that we would want to establish with the GIJ and going forward, we would be able to focus on most of the priorities that we have in relation to education,” he said.

‘…We are excited to assist some students of GIJ with funds so they can continue their studies. We are also poised to maintain a long-term relationship with the school by providing the needed support in various projects and initiatives as a way to facilitate quality tertiary education in Ghana”.

He added “Under our educational portfolio we have the Instant School platform (Virtual school) with various modules where students can subscribe to it for free and the Foundation intends to extend this service to students of GIJ”.

Rev. Amaris further hinted that in line with the Foundation’s strategy in improving lives and communities through education, his outfit is partnering with the Ghana Library Authority to equip some Information and Communications Technology (ICT) centers in the country.

Receiving the cheque on behalf of the students, Rector of Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), Professor Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo, commended Vodafone Ghana Foundation for the gesture and expressed the hope that the move would set the tone for more fruitful engagements between the two institutions.

“Going forward, GIJ will effectively cooperate with the Foundation to harness available technological initiatives in equipping students with the requisite digital media skills needed to promote the work of industries”, Prof. Kwansah-Aidoo underscored.

He said the GIJ had a scholarship foundation through which it sought to collaborate and cooperate with organisations to support the financial needs of students.

For his part, Mr Okine, who is also an alumnus of the school, entreated the beneficiaries to take their studies seriously and produce good grades in appreciation of the gesture and pave the way for more support in the future.