Celtel boosts UPE schools
CELTEL International this year launched a new social responsibility programme “Build Our Nation†focusing on education. <b>Emmy Olak</b>i talked to <b>Yesse Oenga</b> (right) the Celtel Uganda managing director about the programme.
CELTEL International this year launched a new social responsibility programme “Build Our Nation†focusing on education. Emmy Olaki talked to Yesse Oenga (right) the Celtel Uganda managing director about the programme. Below are excerpts.
QUESTION: What exactly is “Build Our Nation?â€
ANSWER: This is a pan- African programme started by Celtel International to build the nations where we operate. We realised that we cannot change the fortunes of people where we operate, but we can do this through education. Celtel identified education as the biggest challenge for the Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools.
There is lack of adequate resources in form of instructional material. So the one thing that came across for us is to focus on this area and we want to do it well.
Books are what we shall do for a long time. Education is an investment even for our business because these will be key customers in the future. Our brand promise is to ‘Make Life Better.†There is no better way than giving people the tools that will make them the great people we expect.
How do you select the beneficiary schools?
The focus is on the UPE schools. The education ministry gave us the list of all the schools under UPE.
This year, we are investing $100m. But we want to grow the amount. Once we got the list of schools certified, we enter them into random selection computer software to draw the winners. At the moment, each beneficiary school gets 200 textbooks, but the idea is to make it broad. We also consulted leading teachers and schools on consensus on what practitioners are using. That is how we came up with the books to buy.
How many schools are benefiting this year?
56 schools from 56 districts will benefit. Next year, we will get a different lot as we grow it over the years. This should get us some good leadership in the future. So far, 12 schools have received their books.
What do you aim to achieve through this programme?
It is important that we make an informed society. In the UN Millennium Development Goals, education is core.
It is through an educated people that you will make a material difference in the development of any community. Our brand promise is to make life better through interventions that are big in their own right. We do not have objectives to gain from this, but if it goes well, we shall get the satisfaction that we achieved what we set out to.
Will the programme move into other areas like HIV/AIDS?
We do not want to move out of books because we feel the need for them is immense. We do not want to do one thing here, then another there. Rural schools have never seen a text book.
We shall stick with books.
QUESTION: What exactly is “Build Our Nation?â€
ANSWER: This is a pan- African programme started by Celtel International to build the nations where we operate. We realised that we cannot change the fortunes of people where we operate, but we can do this through education. Celtel identified education as the biggest challenge for the Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools.
There is lack of adequate resources in form of instructional material. So the one thing that came across for us is to focus on this area and we want to do it well.
Books are what we shall do for a long time. Education is an investment even for our business because these will be key customers in the future. Our brand promise is to ‘Make Life Better.†There is no better way than giving people the tools that will make them the great people we expect.
How do you select the beneficiary schools?
The focus is on the UPE schools. The education ministry gave us the list of all the schools under UPE.
This year, we are investing $100m. But we want to grow the amount. Once we got the list of schools certified, we enter them into random selection computer software to draw the winners. At the moment, each beneficiary school gets 200 textbooks, but the idea is to make it broad. We also consulted leading teachers and schools on consensus on what practitioners are using. That is how we came up with the books to buy.
How many schools are benefiting this year?
56 schools from 56 districts will benefit. Next year, we will get a different lot as we grow it over the years. This should get us some good leadership in the future. So far, 12 schools have received their books.
What do you aim to achieve through this programme?
It is important that we make an informed society. In the UN Millennium Development Goals, education is core.
It is through an educated people that you will make a material difference in the development of any community. Our brand promise is to make life better through interventions that are big in their own right. We do not have objectives to gain from this, but if it goes well, we shall get the satisfaction that we achieved what we set out to.
Will the programme move into other areas like HIV/AIDS?
We do not want to move out of books because we feel the need for them is immense. We do not want to do one thing here, then another there. Rural schools have never seen a text book.
We shall stick with books.