Managing Director and CEO, UBA Ghana Olalekan Balogun, speaking at the launch of the 2020 UBA essay Competition
The United Bank for Africa (UBA) has launched the 2020 edition of the national essay competition for Senior High School (SHS) students.
The competition, which is in its seventh year, builds on UBA Foundation’s annual Read Africa Project, which distributes literature books authored by African writers to selected second cycle institutions across the country.
Managing Director and CEO, UBA Ghana, Olalekan Balogun, said the essay competition formed part of the Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative to support the country’s education sector.
He stated that UBA believed in the future of Africa’s youth and had therefore instituted educational programmes to secure the future of the Continent.
“We believe that giving back to the society through education can impact everybody and help the Continent grow,” he said.
Mr. Balogun indicated that the 2020 competition focuses on the impact of Covid-19 on education adding that the students will be required to write an essay on how Covid-19 has impacted education.
Representative of the Ghana Education Service, Ajuba Adu Tutu, commended UBA for sustaining the essay competition even in the era of Covid-19 adding that the funds set aside every year to support the winners have been very significant.
“I commend the management of UBA for proactively promoting the culture of reading while encouraging healthy and intellectual competitions among secondary schools in Ghana,” she said.
She therefore called on all heads of school to encourage the students and ensure they participate in the competition as it opens its door for them to achieve their dreams.
Representative of the Minister of Education, Godwin Godson Seli, said the government has increased access to SHS education owing to the importance of an educated society.
He said the government will continue to pursue reforms and thus welcomes initiatives that support the improvement of learning outcomes of Ghanaian students.
He said the choice of the essay topic was timely as Covid-19 has greatly impacted the education sector.
“We have had to take advantage of technology and other learning platforms to deliver effective teaching and learning and have had to find safe ways to open our schools. I hope the students will appreciate the issues the competition seeks to address,” he added.
The competition will receive entries online or at any of the UBA branches till November 31, 2020 with the top three winners receiving $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000 respectively towards their tertiary education in any African country.