17-yr-old Ghanaian gets bank scholarship as best WAEC candidate

Samson Kukogho 13:38 - 25 March 2015

After emerging as the overall best candidate in the 2014 May/June WASSCE with eight A1s, 17-year-old Mickail Hasan could not afford to attend a university and had to work as a classroom teacher in a private school until a bank scholarship saved him.

Master Mickail Hasan beat over 2 million candidates from Nigeria, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Liberia to emerge the overall best in the 2014 May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

The 17-year-old Ghanaian, a former student of Ghana Secondary Technical School, Takoradi, scored eight A1s including English Language and Mathematics to emerge the overall best.

Despite his feat, Hasan was faced with the problem of sourcing funds for his tertiary education.

His parents are too poor to provide the needed funds.

So, while his mates who obviously performed poorer in the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) examination, secured admissions into various universities, he had to stay back at home, teaching at a private school.

He was however recently rescued in the form of a scholarship award from the Universal Merchant Bank, Ghana.

On Thursday 12th of March, officials of the bank presented him with a full scholarship, covering his tuition, feeding, accommodation and stipend throughout his course.

The bank's Director of Corporate Banking, Mr Kwame Poku, presented a dummy cheque to an elated Hasan at the ceremony.

On Tuesday, Hasan and two 18-year-olds, Kenyah Blaykyi, and Archibald Enninful Henry, his compatriots, were honoured at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) International Excellence Awards held at WAEC’s International Office Multipurpose Hall, Ikeja.