The Vice President of the Republic, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has launched the Scholarship Secretariat’s Online Scholarship Application and Administration System, www.scholarshipgh.com, in Accra.

Beginning April 1, 2020, in just four (4) easy steps, any applicant can apply from the comfort of their homes, take an aptitude test and be interviewed in their own districts without coming to Accra as in the past.

The launch of the Online portal is in line with President Akufo-Addo’s vision to digitize and formalize government service delivery processes, help to eliminate the inconveniences that applicants experience seeking government sponsorship and also help the Secretariat in proper and efficient administration of scholarships in the country.

Speaking at the launch on Tuesday, Vice President Bawumia said the digitization of scholarship processes has come at the appropriate time, when the world is faced with the COVID-19 pandemic which has temporarily shut down almost all social institutions, especially the education sector.

Vice President Bawumia recalled that the Scholarships Secretariat, since its establishment in 1960 as an extra-ministerial body under the Office of the President, has operated below capacity in its traditional bricks and mortar setting.

In line with the strategic directive of the government, the Secretariat initiated processes aimed at increasing access and ensuring transparency in its scholarship awards and administration processes. This culminated into the piloting of the award processes at the Regional levels in the 2018/2019 academic year and narrowed the process down to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Levels in the 2019/2020 academic year.

The period witnessed significant achievements in the increase of scholarships awarded to Ghanaian students pursuing higher education in local tertiary institutions, both public and private, with more than thirty thousand (30,000) Ghanaian students in locally accredited tertiary institutions benefiting from the scheme in the 2019/2020 academic year.

The Registrar of the Scholarship Secretariat, Kingsley Agyeman, who took participants through the processes of application, expressed appreciation to Government for the support over the years, and pledged the commitment of the Secretariat to do even more to make accessing Scholarships easier and more efficient.