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14-year-old student wins Japan summer camp contest
Deputy Japanese Ambassador to Uganda Mizumoto Horii congratulates Akankunda Daniela as the Director of Viva College school Ms Faridah Kisaame (Left) and her mother Jill Kyatuhaire (Right) looks on at the Embassy of Japan during the flag off ceremony.
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- In May, the World Bank through its report titled, ‘Economic Development and Human Capital in Uganda,’ stressed that there is need to scrap PLE to provide for a free sail of students from primary to secondary school. This has since brought a number of mixed reactions but do we need examinations?
A 14-year-old student Daniela Akankunda, a S2 student at Viva College School has emerged winner out of over 1000 students who applied to represent Uganda at the Japan summer camp this year.
Akankunda wrote a short essay about the extinction of Mother Nature and environmental degradation in Uganda as one of the major challenges that will see the ‘Pearl of African’ disappear in the near future.
“I am very excited to be part of this study and I know I will learn a lot when I am there. I want to come and help my people in my community and especially in my school to learn how to conserve the environment,” Akankunda said.
The students will be hosted by United World College ISAK in Japan being a member of the summer camp which happens every year in different countries around the world.
“I am afraid that my grandchildren will not see this beauty in my country if we do not step up our efforts to conserve the environment. If I got $10, 000, I would encourage my fellow children to plant trees and conserve the environment in all ways,” Ms Jill Kyatuhaire, Akankunda’s mother said reciting from her daughter’s write up.
In this competition sponsored by the Japanese government, interested students were supposed to write an essay about their mother nature, environment and their short biographies. The Pieces that emerged the best would send the authors to this competitive summer camp in Tokyo which is attended by 80 more students picked around the world.
While flagging off Akankunda, Horii, the Japanese deputy ambassador to Uganda said it is an opportunity for young people to fight for the conservation of the environment and congratulated her for the choice she made.
“You have a chance to see how people lives with nature and see how Japan conserves their environment. What you learn there, please come and share with your other students here. You need to like science and technology because it is very developed and you like it,” Mr Mizumoto said.
“Daniela is a leader and she is in the students’ council and owning a charity in the school. She is disciplined and she is hard working and we are not surprised she went through for tyhis programme,” Ms Farida Kisaame, the director of VIVA college said during the sendoff.
The students will spend two weeks at United World College ISAK in Japan learning about cross cultural issues, environmental conservation and ecology which they will come and implement in their home countries.
