The government has through the scholarship secretariat introduced a local scholarship scheme that will benefit about 150,000 students who passed their WASSCE and were also beneficiaries of the free SHS policy.

Students who have qualified for various tertiary institutions can apply for the local scholarship through the online portal of the scholarship secretariat.

The government has set aside a budget of about GHC 20 million to cater for the tuition fees of qualified students who gain admission to an accredited tertiary institution both public and private.

This announcement was made on Tuesday by the Registrar of the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat, Mr Kingsley Agyemang.

Out of the 342,500 candidates who wrote the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) this year about 50% have passed their exams and qualified for admissions in various tertiary institutions.

According to Mr Agyemang, the local scholarship presents another opportunity for students who benefited from the free SHS but are needy to also get the opportunity to further their education.

During the media briefing in Accra he disclosed that students who scored between A1 and C6 in all core subjects are more than 50% for the first time in six years.

He said the scholarship processes for the 2020/2021 academic year commenced in March 2020, with over 300,000 Ghanaians applying from all over the country.

As of Tuesday, he said, applicants numbering 11,581 out of the envisaged 45,000 successful applicants from about 50 districts throughout the country had had their tuition fees paid fully to their respective institutions.

The registrar expressed the hope that the tertiary institutions would fast-track the validation processes to enable the secretariat to expedite action on the payment.