Into the heart of the scholarship initiative
In a significant step for educational access in the Western Region, the Member of Parliament for Prestea-Huni Valley Constituency, Robert Wisdom Cudjoe (NDC), has awarded a GH¢200,000 scholarship package to 65 tertiary students. The event, held recently in the constituency, forms part of an ongoing support programme to help cover their school and hostel fees.
At the scholarship presentation ceremony in Prestea-Huni Valley, the MP announced that each of the 65 beneficiaries would receive approximately GH¢3,000. He noted that this tranche represents the second batch of students supported under the scheme, and that applications from another 45 students are expected to be processed in the first quarter of 2026.
By assisting students with the costs of higher education, the scheme addresses financial barriers that often hinder tertiary attainment in mining-belt and rural districts. In Ghana, where government and private support for tertiary students still falls short of need, such local interventions help to broaden access to education and build human capital — both vital for national development and regional socio-economic mobility.
Cudjoe explained that the scholarship scheme traces its origins to his time as District Chief Executive (DCE) of Prestea-Huni Valley, when he earmarked 2 percent of the district’s resources to support bright but needy nurse and teacher trainees. After losing the DCE position in 2016 and returning as MP in 2021, he revived and expanded the programme to cover tertiary students in the constituency.
The municipality itself is one of Ghana’s mining-rich but infrastructure-challenged areas, where educational resource gaps persist and local investment in scholastic support plays a pivotal role.
According to the 2025 Composite Budget for Prestea-Huni Valley, the Municipal Assembly set aside about GH¢20,000 under “Scholarship and Bursaries.” The MP’s GH¢200,000 scholarship thus represents an order of magnitude more than the routine budgeted support within the municipality.
Moreover, past interventions by the MP include the donation of more than 5,000 mathematics sets to final-year junior high school students in the area, illustrating a broader educational support track record.
Cudjoe stated that “today’s programme is geared towards helping our students to pay their school fees and hostel fees. It’s not just a one-day thing but will be a continuous project.” He urged recipients to work diligently to justify the assistance.
He also emphasised that the scheme will continue to accept applications beyond the present batch and will grow in scope to reach more students in future.
For the beneficiaries, the timely injection of roughly GH¢3,000 each can make a meaningful difference in covering tuition and campus housing costs — potentially reducing dropout risk or delaying studies. For the constituency, the programme may contribute to improved tertiary graduation rates, local skill development and longer-term economic benefits.
On a wider scale, this case highlights how MPs and local leaders in Ghana can play complementary roles to national efforts in addressing educational financing gaps.
While the GH¢200,000 scholarship package provides a welcome boost for 65 students in Prestea-Huni Valley, the fact that the municipal assembly’s own budget for bursaries hovers in the tens of thousands underscores the scale of unmet need across the country. Sustained success will depend on how deeply such interventions can be embedded, scaled and replicated — both within the constituency and in other parts of Ghana.
