In their continuing effort to lift academic performance in Hoima, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (Cnooc) last week rewarded 90 of the best performers in 2015 national exams for their efforts.
This is the fourth round of awards since the launch of this measure, and it was held at the district headquarters in Busiisi division, Hoima municipality.
The winners received cash awards ranging between Shs 250,000 and Shs 650,000 and certificates for excelling at Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE).
Cnooc disbursed Shs 27m in total, to the beneficiaries. At the function, Lawrence Bategeka, the newly-elected MP for Hoima municipality, called for increased efforts to improve academic performance especially in government schools. He noted that the 2015 performance had declined, with only 13 pupils obtaining first division at PLE, in the district’s 135 schools.
Ambrose Mwesigye, Hoima deputy resident district commissioner, challenged Cnooc to look beyond the awards to improve academic performance sustainably.
“Yes, awards are good because they [improve] competition but, since they are mostly amongst the brighter children, efforts need to be geared towards other factors that hinder education [like] food insecurity and lack of money to buy scholastic materials,” said Mwesigye.
The DRDC also asked parents to think deeply about improving their crop farming, livestock and poultry in order to boost their daily income to facilitate the education of their children.
Hoima district education officer Godfrey Sserwanja applauded Cnooc for the initiative that has become a forum for competition and hoped to improve the performance.
According to Sserwanja, 20 per cent of the beneficiaries were from Kyangwali sub-county, while 50 per cent were from Buhuka parish, where Cnooc oil operations are based.
Zakalia Lubega, Cnooc corporate affairs manager, acknowledged the applause from Serwanja and added that the company would continue working with the district education office to improve learning in Hoima.