Mutekanga says the initiative aligns well with the new lower secondary schools curriculum, which is competence-based and brings out the best in every learner.
The Ministry of Education and Sports is mooting to include Stanbic Bank’s schools competition in the national education calendar. The Stanbic National Schools Championship is a countrywide innovation competition where students develop practical solutions to given challenges.
George Mutekanga, the Assistant Commissioner for Private Schools and Higher Learning, says the initiative aligns well with the new lower secondary schools curriculum, which is competence-based and brings out the best in every learner.
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The annual challenge is aimed at nurturing participants into a generation of innovative job creators with knowledge and life skills such as managing personal finance, entrepreneurship, and business management.
He emphasized the need for the competition to display a national character and encouraged the organizers to find a mechanism to make the competition all-inclusive, considering all schools, even in the remotest parts of the country. “Can we come up with a strategy to bring all the 20 sub-regions of the country on board?” he inquired.
He believes this will make a significant difference for both the ministry and the bank. “We still have to go to the drawing board and see what to do and how to do it,” he says, adding that such initiatives help to impart crucial skills to younger people, equipping them for the job market. He praised the bank as a worthy partner for the program.
According to Mutekanga, the skills students obtain from this program are not taught anywhere else in school, yet they are very crucial.
Sam Mwogeza, the bank’s Chief Executive, said that though the program is structured like a competition, it is more of a learning initiative where even those who don’t win prizes gain lessons to last a lifetime. “At Stanbic, we are keen on empowering the next generation, and we don’t see this as a competition. A competition is such a narrow way to think about it. It’s an experience, a program, where we are all winners,” he stated.
Mwogeza commended the creativity exhibited by the competitors, noting that their exceptional ideas could potentially transform the country if given attention.
He adds that although progress has been made in expanding the program's coverage across the country, much still needs to be done to reach the Ministry of Education and Sports’ target of 1,000 schools.
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According to Mwogeza, up to six schools have so far benefited from the program’s annual pool of prizes worth 70 million shillings. He also revealed the program’s far-reaching impact, highlighting three students—Michael Okao, Darius Ogwang, and Joshua Elemu from Comboni—who participated in this initiative and won last year’s Commonwealth Sustainable Energy Transition Award with their solar-powered cooker.
He adds that the program has so far empowered 600,000 students out of the targeted one million. He is optimistic that when more young people are empowered, Uganda is poised for a brighter future.
14 schools made it to the finals, with the grand prize won by St. Joseph High School Namagunga. Other finalists included Wanyange Girls School, Immaculate Girls School Nyakibale, Otravu Technical Institute, Abia Seed School Alebtong, Kyenjojo Secondary School, Jinja College School, Katwe Noor Secondary School, Sheema Girls School, and Rachele Comprehensive Senior School.
Dennis Kasule Ssebunya
Freelancer