Mary Hill High School from Western Uganda emerged victorious in the Stanbic Bank National Schools championships, following a highly competitive final held in Kampala that featured the other three regional competitors; Kibuli SS from Central region, Sacred Heart Girls School from Northern region and Teso College Aloet from Eastern region.
The team from Mary Hill High School presented a detailed bank simulation project, which looked at how financial institutions can positively transform the societies where they operate.
As the overall winners, the Mary Hill High school team won the Grand Prize of an all-expenses paid trip to South Africa and their school also won an amazing UGX 20 Million fully installed Solar system for class room blocks.
Congratulating Mary Hill High School at the prize giving ceremony, Stanbic Board Chairman Japheth Katto said: “The team from Western Uganda has been outstanding throughout the competition. They beat 9 schools to win in their region and have carried this form into the finals culminating in their victory. They are truly worthy winners and representative of exactly what we were looking for when we started this competition which necessitated teamwork, commitment, and a sound knowledge of how financial institutions can make a difference in everyday lives.”
The Guest of Honour, the Director Education KCCA, Juliet Namuddu praised Stanbic Bank for the initiative.
“KCCA appreciates what Stanbic Bank has achieved through this competition, because financial literacy is a very important subject yet it is not extensively taught in most schools,” she said, and pledged continued support to Stanbic to enable the bank engage in various educational projects which give students the practical life skills necessary to succeed in real life.
The 2017 edition of the National Schools Championship was launched in February by Stanbic Bank in partnership with the Ministry of Education. Over 3,000 students from 40 secondary schools participated in a series of increasingly difficult educational challenges including class debates, regional quiz competitions and finally the Bank simulation project.
Kibuli SS emerged as the 1st Runner up and every member of the team walked away with an Apple iPad each and a water system for the school worth UGX10 million. Each member from Sacred Heart Girls High School, the second runner up team, received a savings account with UGX 1 million and a copy of book titled ‘7 habits of highly effective teenagers’.
Cathy Adengo, Stanbic Bank’s Head of CSR and Communications lauded the participants and said the competition was instructive for economic development.
“This has been a fantastic competition and the entire programme has shown us the brilliant minds we have across the country. Stanbic Bank believes that investing in education is a critical vehicle to fostering development in the country. We believe that healthy competition and innovativeness among students is a step forward to creating active minds which yield solutions that would steer not only improved academic performance, but also definite solutions to moving Uganda economically forward,” Me Adengo said.
