Professor William Otoo Ellis, former Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has advised university students to engage more in community outreach programmes.
He said universities were established to impact positively on society and praised the KNUST Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme (MCFSP), which had executed varied socially transformative projects in communities over the years.
The projects, involving education, health, water and sanitation, hygiene, among others, were funded from the beneficiary students’ own resources.
Prof. Ellis, speaking at the commemoration of this year’s ‘Scholar’s Day of Service’, at Kotei-Deduako, in the Oforikrom Municipality of the Ashanti Region, said, “it is good the students have resolved to give back to the society.”
A vital part of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme is the giveback component – an initiative that gives the Scholars the opportunity to be useful to their communities through volunteering as well as other forms of experiential learning.
Each year, Mastercard Foundation Scholars worldwide gather to celebrate ‘Huduma Day’, a day dedicated to community service.
In observance of this year’s event, the Scholars at KNUST interacted with the students of the Life Community Special Vocational School, a training institute for the intellectually challenged at Deduako.
The Scholars had raised an amount of US$30, 000 to undertake a few projects at the facility.
They include general renovations at the school, procurement, installation and housing of a corn milling machine, pavement of the walkways and the play areas.
The projects were jointly inaugurated on Monday, October 10 this year, by authorities of KNUST, Oforikrom Municipal Assembly, the Municipal Directorate of Education, as well as the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council (RCC).
Prof. Ellis, who chairs the KNUST Executive Advisory Board of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme, advised the students to consider the act of volunteerism as an essential part of their educational life.
Through such humanitarian activities, the students would get the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to building the society for the better, he noted.
The former Vice-Chancellor suggested the strengthening of partnership between the Life Community Special Vocational School and the University, saying this was one area the university could focus on as it worked to support the facility.
Prof. Mrs. Rita Akosua Dickson, Vice-Chancellor, KNUST, in a message delivered on her behalf, commended the Scholars for demonstrating leadership.
Mr. Joseph Stanley Mwini, Headmaster of the School, praised the Programme Lead, Prof. Kofi Ohene Owusu Daaku, for his commitment to see the facility resourced adequately in order to meet the training needs of the special students.
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