Joseph and Elizabeth Quansah Foundation Supports Needy But Brilliant Students in Ghana

Cape Coast, 10th July, 2020 - Education is the sine qua non that propels the economic growth of all countries across the world. Indeed, all countries that have developed have a very high percentage of their population being literate with a sizeable number attaining tertiary education.

According to the World Population Review (2020) it is estimated that, "the global literacy rate is quite high. The literacy rate for all males and females that are at least 15 years old is 86.3% while males aged 15 and over have a literacy rate of 90%, females lag behind at just 82.7%. Developed nations have a literacy rate of 99.2%".

"Most of the illiterate adults live in South Asia, West Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Of all the illiterate adults in the world, nearly two-thirds are female. In total, there are about 781 million adults worldwide that can’t read or write" (World Population Review 2020).

Even though Ghana is a developing country with an estimated population 31,072,940, it has a literacy rate of about 76.60%, which is fairly good and above the average for sub-Sahara Africa. With this, most people do not get the opportunity to attend and experience the benefits of tertiary education due to poverty levels. Statistics show that not all those who get access to tertiary education are able to complete. According to the Trading Economics (2020), gross graduation ratio for first degree programmes for both sexes is estimated at about 10.7%. This means even those who get admissions, some are unable to complete and others are unable to access tertiary education at all.

It is based on this, that Prof. Joseph E. Quansah and Dr. Elizabeth I. Quansah who are domiciled in the USA have established the Joseph and Elizabeth Quansah Foundation (JEQ) to assist needy but brilliant students in Ghana to be able to access tertiary education and also pay for tuition and accommodation for such students. The foundation normally provides funding support for only needy undergraduates and senior high school graduates about to enroll into colleges and universities.

In trying to find out the main motivation for the foundation, Dr. Elizabeth Quansah averred that it was their way of giving back to society but their main mission was to fund intelligent but needy students in Ghana with a goal of providing financial support to cover tuition and housing or residential cost as well laptops for beneficiary students. "This particular gesture has been done over the last decade" she added.

Prof. Joseph Quansah proceeded to provide the names of beneficiaries for the 2020 academic year. They include the following: Samuel Enyan, third year Economics student at KNUST, Hildagard Maisha Musah, a third year Procurement Student at Takoradi Technical University, Phillip Nortey, Political Science student at KNUST, Millicent Yedu Acquah, who completed WAEC with 5 A's and 3 B's is yet to enroll in a tertiary institution, Thomas Benson, second year Educational Science student at UCC and Kojo Manfred, a second-year medical student at UDS. The rest of this year’s recipients are Daniel Walker who had 7 A’s and B from WAEC and Seth Adjei Pepprah who had 6 A’s and 2 B’s from WAEC but had to stay home for a year due to financial constraints. These students are now waiting for their university admission letters for this year.

In responding to how the foundation funds the scholarships they grant to students, Dr. Quansah explained that, over the last decade they have provided the financial support to all students from their personal resources. "Myself and my husband have been doing this in our own small ways over the years but now, the number of applicants have increased tremendously and our personal resources cannot support all needy but extremely intelligent students who cannot have access to any financial support in Ghana”. "We are taking this opportunity to appeal to philanthropist and corporate organizations to partner with JEQ Foundation to enable us to reach out and support more students in our dear motherland" She explained. Prof. Quansah also added, we want more students to be aware that our Foundation is here to support them to further their education if they meet the Foundation’s funding academic and socio-economic requirements. While funding support from the foundation is free, we require all recipients to “pay it forward” by either sponsoring non-family members who are also intelligent but needy or donating to the foundation after gainful employment in the future. Paying it forward is the only condition for receiving our funding support.

Prof. Joseph E. Quansah is JEQ Foundation Co-Founder and President as well as Professor at Tuskegee University and Dr. Elizabeth I. Quansah is also the Co-Founder and Co-President for the Foundation. She is also the Director of Auburn University (AU) Outreach Global and an instructor at AU Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (AU, OLLI) in Alabama, USA. Prof. and Dr. Mrs. Quansah took the opportunity to thank Dr. Valarie Thomas, Opelika, Alabama, Dr. Souleyman Fall, Auburn, Alabama, Dr. Leslie Cordie, Auburn Alabama, Mr. Edward Thomas Jr., Opelika Alabama, Mrs. Conni Vianco, Lafayette, IN all of the USA and their Ghanaian representatives: Mrs. Christiana Blankson, Western Region, Mr. Emmanuel Quansah, Ashanti and Northern Region and Mr. Michael Nartey of Greater Accra and Central Regions of Ghana. "We thank our donors and supporters greatly for providing assistance to the realization of our vision and passion in providing financial support for brilliant but needy students" they added.

For more information about Joseph and Elizabeth Quansah Foundation, please visit their website at: https://www.jequansahfoundation.org/ or email: [email protected]