40 schools to take part in 2017 national competition

The battle lines have been drawn. Over 3000 from 40 selected schools from across the country are set to take on each other in the 2017 Stanbic Bank National Schools Championship.

In school teams, the students will compete against each other in a series of educational activities ranging from class debates to testing quizzes and group projects.

The competition aims at taking children out of the classroom setting and putting their critical thinking faculties to the test, and to judge how much they know about the world around them.

Patrick Mweheire, the Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic Uganda explained why such interventions are very important for education in Uganda

"We tried to evaluate where the problems in Uganda are. One thing that is remarkably clear is that education is probably the most ignored (of Uganda's problems), and yet it requires the most support," he said at the launch of the championship today at the Kampala Serena Hotel.

"If you look at Uganda's demographic, 75% of the population is under 25.

We have 10 to 15 million school going children, we add about another million every year, which means that we have to create a million jobs for those coming out of school every year, It does not take a rocket scientist to realise that the biggest place you can have an impact on the Ugandan economy is by intervening on education."

 Benson Kule, the Commissioner for secondary education said partnerships with leading private sector players only bodes well for the prospects of Uganda's education.

"At the Ministry of Education and Sports, we support such initiatives because education in this next generation is a combined role of the public and private sector.

"Targeting secondary school students is a brilliant strategy by crafting a knowledgeable pool of future professionals. Students are also a good source of transferring knowledge and information to their parents and communities."