BULIISA – 20 girls from vulnerable families from the oil-rich districts of Buliisa and Nwoya have a reason to smile after they qualified for TotalEnergies EP Uganda scholarships.
The beneficiaries qualified following the selection process that was conducted by St. Andrea Kaahwa’s College and Sacred Heart Secondary School in collaboration with the education departments of the two districts.
Besides the scholarship, each student was also given a mattress, one dozen of petroleum jelly, dozen laundry soap, reams of paper, exercise books, and Shs 200, 000 for upkeep among others.
The beneficiaries are undergoing ordinary-level studies at St Andrea Kaahwa’s College in Hoima City and Sacred Heart Secondary School in Gulu district.
The assistant manager for TotalEnergies, Ataroline Nanialu said the company began awarding scholarships to disadvantaged girls from the two districts in 2015.
She noted that the initiative is aimed at preparing the population in the two districts for oil and gas opportunities.
Handing the items to the beneficiaries at a function held at Buliisa district headquarters on Wednesday, the Buliisa district chairman, Fred Lukumu, urged parents to encourage and support their girl children to go to school.
The Buliisa district education officer, Tyson Kisangani Kiiza, attributed the low academic performance among girls in the district to parents’ failure to support them in different aspects.
“Most parents are unsupportive of their girl children when it comes to education, subject them to child labour and conceal defilement cases and this exposes them to early pregnancies,” he said.
Kiiza was concerned that there are 316 unqualified teachers serving in the 30 public primary schools in the district with only 13 teachers appointed to serve.
However, he disclosed that the district education department is working to ensure that the district gets qualified teachers in order to boost the education system in Buliisa.
Robert Mukonyezi, a parent to Patience Atuhuura, who is among the scholarship beneficiaries appreciated TotalEnergies EP Uganda for offering scholarships to girl children in the district, saying despite their children performing well academically, some parents are too poor to pay school fees for them.
“Besides parents’ inability to pay school fees for their girl children, the environment in which these children live is always a stumbling block to their education. We have a challenge of disco clubs in our areas that spoil them. Parents’ inability to provide children with f lunch at school and some parents’ bad attitude towards girl children attaining formal education is so hurting here in Buliisa district,” he said.
TotalEnergies is currently developing the Tilenga upstream oil projects in Uganda and but the oil company is also a key shareholder in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline [EACOP].
https://thecooperator.news/totalenergies-to-address-gender-issues-in-albertine-graben/
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