Wa East MP Gives GH¢223,000 Financial Support to SHS Freshers

The Member of Parliament for Wa East, Dr Godfred Seidu Jasaw, has provided GH¢223,000 in financial support to senior high school freshers from the constituency to help them meet their immediate educational needs.

Dr Godfred Seidu Jasaw provided financial support to 223 students from the Wa East District who gained admission to senior high schools, with each beneficiary receiving GH¢1,000.

The beneficiaries were students who obtained aggregates between 6 and 34 in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), with the support intended to help them meet their immediate educational needs.

Dr Jasaw said the support forms part of his social bursary initiative aimed at assisting families to address the specific challenges they face when sending their children to secondary school.

He explained that, rather than distributing items such as mattresses, trunks and other school supplies, he chose to provide cash so that students and their parents could decide how best to use the money.

“I decided to intervene in a way that can be impactful directly to the parents and the awards that are going to you. I have seen in some places, some people are supported with mattresses, trunks, chalkboards, buckets, mathematical sets, and all those supporting for students to go. In my case, it is different,” the MP said.

According to him, some families in the constituency struggle to provide basic necessities such as school uniforms, food, footwear and learning materials for their children.

“The students and the parents will decide what is their most pressing need. Then they use that money to support in that regard,” he said.

“Then they will decide whether they want to go and use it to buy a chop box. They want to use it to buy gari. They want to use it to make shito. They want to use it to sew a uniform. They want to buy boots or sandals, books, whatever. They will decide what their most pressing need is.”

Dr Jasaw noted that beneficiaries could use the funds to buy uniforms, books, boots, sandals and food, among other necessities.

He said the initiative was introduced last year to provide direct and practical support to JHS leavers transitioning into senior high and technical vocational education.