The Ghana Mineworkers’ Union (GMWU) has through its Bisa McCarthy Education Endowment Fund given bursaries to 500 senior high school students who are wards of the Union members to pursue secondary education since 2005.
The bursary given to 50 students each academic year is the union’s modest contribution to the country’s human capital development.
A statement issued by the Union on Friday said: “The Bisa McCarthy Education Endowment Fund Board of Trustees is currently in the process of granting bursaries to 50 SHS students for the 2013-2014 academic year.”
Each beneficiary will get three hundred Ghana cedis per year for the three-year course of study. The Fund was named after founding members of the Union.
The Bisa McCarthy Education Endowment Fund has a seven-member Board of Trustees chaired by Mr Dennis Vormawor, a former Trade Unionist, Chief Executive Officer of the Labour Enterprise Trust and a member of the National Labour Commission.
The other members of the board are Mr Nicholas Yeboah, Mr Benjamin Ocran, Samuel Dwamenah, Gilbert Bimpong, Madam Betty Aidoo and Mr Eric K. Gyima, who is the Deputy General-Secretary of the GMWU and the member-secretary.
The GMWU General-Secretary, Mr Prince William Ankrah recently told journalists in Accra that the bursary is an initiative by the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union to encourage mineworkers to give secondary education to their children and wards.
The Fund was established in 2003 as part of the GMWU’s 60th anniversary programmes at the time but was officially registered in 2009 under the Ghana Companies Code 1963, Act 179.
The GMWU according Mr Ankrah, believed in quality human capital development and therefore had the conviction that students at the SHS would be given sound foundation for further studies at higher level of education.
”It is also worth emphasizing that most of the beneficiaries of the scholarship attended prestigious secondary schools in Ghana and moved on to tertiary institutions to complete diplomas and degrees in various disciplines.”
He said the GMWU was committed to supporting the development of the human capital of its members for the benefit of their children.
Mr Ankrah disclosed that GMWU would also establish a foundation that would support programmes at the tertiary level.
In addition, he said, the Union aimed to build a strong relationship with the University of Mines and Technology in the area of sustainable development to ensure the sustainable future of selected mining economies beyond the life span of the existing mining operations.