AGI partners Scholarships Secretariat to create labour bank
Mr Kingsley Agyemang, Registrar of the Scholarship Secretariat said, his outfit is collaborating with the Association of Ghana Industries Scholarships Secretariat to create a labour bank to allow industries and businesses to easily source the requisite manpower for growth.
He said the labour bank, an initiative of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s government, was a laudable initiative, citing the case of Cimaf Cement, a company from Morocco, which would rely on Ghanaian students who were studying in Morocco as their first point of call in respect of job placement.
“The purpose is that, if for instance, there is a company from Hungary seeking to invest in Ghana, the company will not look further than the labour bank,” Mr Agyemang said.
Mr Agyemang was speaking at a reception held in honour of some 50 Ghanaian students recipients of the Hungarian Ghana government scholarships.
He said Ghana would want to replicate the Cuban style where its economy thrives on medical and educational export, adding, “we want to get to a point where we can export excess labour to the neighbouring countries.”
Mr Agyemang thanked President Akufo-Addo for introducing such a laudable idea which is linking academia with the industry.
He expressed the Secretariat’s appreciation to the Hungarian government for their assistance and reiterated that aside the benefits, Ghana stands to gain from the scholarship, “Hungary is reputed to be one of the best countries in the world to pursue academic studies at the tertiary levels.”
The Registrar revealed that more than 3000 students applied for the Hungarian scholarship out of which 50 were selected, stressing that although the selection process was rigorous, the Secretariat had no shred of doubt that the best students were selected.
He touched on President Akufo Addo’s administration’s determination to commit more resources to education in the country, something he described as unprecedented.
Mr Agyemang commended the President for ensuring that the scholarship secretariat, which had been neglected for a long time, was back on its feet and helping Ghanaian students.
He said through the secretariat’s collaboration with EOCO and the support from government, scholarship funds, which were unutilized had been retrieved from head teachers and this had ensured that the Secretariat was able to settle supplementary allowances and other entitlements to students in various countries.
The Registrar told the students that the era where they were abandoned and denied their stipends were over.
“You have a government in place that understands education, you have a government that understands your welfare and you have a government that listens. We can assure you that we will provide dispatch services to all students. For us at the secretariat, you are our clients,” he said.
Dr Lawrence Tetteh, Founder and President of the Worldwide Miracle Outreach, who played a crucial role in the Hungarian scholarship deal, said the Hungarian environment was very much opened for higher studies and asked the students to take advantage of it, especially, their language.
He stated that Ghana had benefitted from Hungary in diverse ways, including areas such as pharmaceutical, engineering among others.
“The environment in Hungary is not like many European countries where you are allowed to work outside studies. In Hungary, you are paid and made comfortable to have a peaceful mind to study,” he added.
Whilst asking them to take advantage of the system in Hungary, he cautioned them to draw the lines on what to do and no to do.
Source: GNA