[Intl-tobacco] Ghana: British American Tobacco Support for Education

[Robert Weissman]

British American Tobacco Increases Support
by Fred Abrokwa / Accra Mail  (Accra)
Source: All-Africa.com, Thursday, 12/21/00

Accra

In its bid to help the country attain excellence in education, British
American Tobacco (BAT) Ghana has donated ¢20 million to the Ghana
Education Trust Fund and announced the expansion of its annual education
sponsorship programme to ¢300 million from 2001.


The amount covers scholarships for children of employees and tobacco
farmers at Senior Secondary School level as well as support for needy but
brilliant undergraduate students.

Part of it will be channeled into the BAT Ghana Fellowship for graduate
studies at the University of Ghana to be awarded to an M. Phil. Graduate
with outstanding academic performance. It attracts a US$3,400 award
payable in cedis including a monthly stipend of US$100 and a one-time
research or thesis grant of US$1,000 for the two-year programme.

BAT would continue to honour the best graduating students in the
Humanities, Sciences and Communication Studies at the University of Ghana
and for Agricultural Science at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science
and Technology (KNUST).

BAT announced a new package with effect from the 2001/2 academic year, to
also honour the overall best graduating student in the University of Cape
Coast (UCC), University for Development Studies (UDS), University College
of Education Winneba (UCEW) and KNUST. Each winner will receive a cash
award of ¢2 million.

BAT will from 2002 adopt a faculty in one of the five state run
universities and provide it with equipment or books based on felt needs to
the tune of ¢100million.

Mr. Kofi Selby, Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Director, BAT, said
though the Ghana Education Trust Fund is a palliative measure to
complement central government funding, the 2.5% VAT levy is inadequate to
meet the needs of the education sector. He assured that the Company would
continue to support education development in Ghana.

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