16 year old boy wins UBA National Essay Competition

Second year student from the Presbyterian Boys Senior High School, Jason Emmanuel K Asante has emerged as the winner of the 4^th edition of the United Bank for Africa’s (UBA) national essay competition.

The 16 year old boy beat off competition from 11 other finalists from various Senior High Schools to emerge with the topmost award.

For his prize, Emmanuel Asante walked away with US$ 5000 and a trophy.

Wesley Girls’ Senior High Schools, Appiah Mame Anokyewah Antwi and Yasmeen Quartey emerged as first and second runners up, receiving US$3500 and US$2000 respectively.

The cash prize serves as an educational grant for the winners to study in any African university of their choice.

Each of the 12finalists was given a UBA branded Laptop to go home with as a token for the bold step they took and to encourage them and others to participate anytime there is such an opportunity.

The competition brought together 12 finalists from seven different schools across Ghana and was met with intense competition and bragging rights at the head office of UBA Ghana from among the 12 finalists who fiercely vied for the ultimate.

Students from Ola Senior High School, Wesley Girls’ High School; Keta Senior High Tech School, WBM Zion Senior High School; KNUST Senior High School, Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School, Legon and Aburi Girls’ Senior High School were in the finals with Aburi Girls’ entering with three students, two from Wesley Girls and two from Ola Senior High, with the rest presenting one student each.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Managing UBA Ghana Mrs Abiola Bawuah congratulated all 12 finalists, calling them winners for taking a step of faith by being part of the competition.

She challenged all senior high students out there to look out for the competition and participate in the 2018 edition.

“Today, we have identified the 12^th winner since the inception of the competition four years ago. Already, the UBA Foundation was taking care of nine students at the tertiary level and we are happy to announce that from now on they will be 12,” she stated.

“We are fully committed to this and it remains our priority to continue with this part of our contribution to society. To our stakeholders, the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service, your support to this cognitive competition has been enormous and we hope that the relationship will continue.” She added..

The Director for Secondary Education, Dr Angela Tena Mensah, highlighted strong points ofthe UBA Foundation National Essay Competition, such as allowing every student to exhibit their cognitive skills and potentials while developing a positive work ethic with problem solving and critical thinking skills.

She said “The idea of using the essay to elicit information from the young ones is indirectly asking these students to contribute to the national fight against galamsey. Our hope is that the fantastic ideas from the essays would be gathered and presented to those who matter in the fight against galamsey”.