Feature: Ghanaian students take steps to achieve aspirations in China

Esther Annang thougt she would never realize her ambition to become a medical doctor one day as her family could not afford her university education.

Annang comes from a poor home in the coastal town of Ashaiman, near Ghana's capital, Accra.

University education in Ghana is expensive and poor families usually find it difficult to fund their wards' education even though they churn out good grades at the senior high school level.

Hover everything has changed as she was nominated as one of the recipients of the Chinese government scholarship for the 2015-2016 year.

Having scanty information on the scholarship though, the young lady tried as much as possible to provide all the necessary requirements needed for the scholarship.

"And God being so good I did not miss the opportunity. I am part of the students who were granted the scholarship. I am very grateful for that," the affable Annang said.

She told Xinhua that the Chinese scholarship had provided a stepping stone to her aspirations in life and also an opportunity to travel abroad, something she had never done or thought of doing now.

"They are not only helping me, but are also helping my family, especially my little sister. She can now go to the university since mine has now been taken care of by the Chinese government scholarship," she said, while beaming with smiles to the admiration of the crowd assembled at a reception organized by the Chinese Embassy in honor of the scholarship awardees.

The reception was graced by the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Sun Baohong, as well as Ghana's deputy minister for Pre-tertiary Education, Alex Kyeremeh.

Official figures show China has offered more than 500 Ghanaian students government scholarships since 1984.

"Thank you for making me take a full step to my aspirations, thank you for making thousands of others take a full step to achieving their aspirations," said Annang. Endit