Chinese Company Huawei Contributes to BEC Annual Excellence Awards
Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) held its 6th Annual Excellence Awards this week at Boipuso Hall Fairgrounds. Once again, this year event has seen participation from President Ian Khama and Minister of Education and Skills Development Dr. Unity Dow. The over-riding goal of the Annual Excellence Awards is to encourage good performance during national examinations whereby parents, teachers and students would work hard to produce high flyers.
Speaking at the ceremony, Dr. Dow said “we are proud that you have achieved where you are today as a result of effort and sacrifice”. The minsietr encouraged young people to read and write, to read widely about anything and to write without care about grammar. She believes that read and write are at the heart of creativity. Before giving the Golden Star Award/Presidential Award to Dimpho Gosenyang from Naledi Senior Secondary School, President Khama noted that “It is my sincere wish that they continue to be exemplary in the next phase of their schooling. I call upon parents, teachers, civil society, clubs and associations to commit to building a better future for our children. We further call upon all other stakeholders including the private sector to join hands with Government to achieve national educational and societal goals.”
The success of this event is attributed to the generous contribution of a number of sponsors. Huawei, the Chinese ICT giant, stands out as a foreign company making donations to this event. The company sponsored the category of “Best School/PTA”, donating in total 60,000BWP to the three best schools/best PTAs. Communicating with this newspaper, Abel Deng, the Managing Director of Huawei Botswana, states that “Huawei has been operating in Botswana for 17 years. In those years, Huawei has not only made big business achievements, but also demonstrated itself as a responsible corporate citizen through a number of CSR events. A major focus of Huawei’s CSR is creating opportunities through education. Huawei believes that education is the foundation of a country’s development and that young people are the future of a nation. And hence today’s sponsorship by Huawei for Best Schools and Best PTAs”.
On May 16, the company donated 60 Huawei tablets to three schools in Ghanzi to mark the 2015 World Telecommunications and Information Society Day and to bridge the digital divide in remote areas of Botswana. End of July, Huawei will also be sponsoring University of Botswana for its New Students Orientation program by giving a large number of T-shirts.
“As a foreign company which is committed to its long-term presence and development in Botswana, Huawei will continuously contribute to the development of education in Botswana as well as to other causes of the nation”, said Abel Deng. This is the sixth year since the Excellence Awards were introduced and staged on the 20th May 2010. The Awards have since grown in leaps and bounds with trusted sponsors and partners with the goal of seeing a vibrant Human Resource in tandem with the “Knowledge Based Economy” thrust.
