By Our Reporter
As early as 4:30am, Divine Kobusigye, the Senior Five Mobiliser at St Julian Secondary School was already dressed in her sparkling well pressed white Shirt and Kaaki skirt. She was beaming with a sheepish smile and couldn’t wait for the day to go on as they have been planning for the past one month.
This preparation was in anticipation of Equity Bank’s kick starting of a 1,000 Tree planting campaign at the school. On Monday, 6th October 2025, Equity Bank officials descended onto St Julian Secondary School for the launch of what Kobusigye describes as, “A Monumental day in my tenure as a mobilizer and a day the school will live to remember for the efforts and strides taken to save the environment.”
Such moves are being untaken as a way of the bank reaffirming its commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainable development. And also align with the Bank’s; Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy which integrates sustainability into its core business operations.
Equity Bank’s Managing Director Mr. Gift Shoko speared headed the tree planting and, in his remarks, noted that, “We are doing this so that everyone is involved in protecting the environment and the future; the teachers, students and the community. As a Bank we are providing the trees and necessary support to ensure they grow well, and the school is providing the land.”
As a way of having all the students involved, Jeff Serujongi the schools Director added, “What we decided is that every student who plants a tree gets to name the tree after themselves and also takes care of it, when it’s time to transition from the school they pass on the tree to the next student.”
It is a project that is in good hands taken by the enthusiasm showed by the student community of over 7,000 students, just five months ago when they heard of the school wanting to take measures to combat climate change and conserve nature, the students started an Environmental Club and straight away the school gave them a greenlight on the project by designating a piece land to the club. Here they can grow different plants, trees and study about plant species that they don’t know.
Lule Adam Ronald the Vice President of the Club, highlighted that, “As Senior three students we realized we needed to step up in Agriculture by being more practical, now these trees are going to help us learn more about conserving the environment and the do’s and don’ts.”
To do this, the School is working hand in hand with Agriculture for Health and Wealth Company Limited. “We first provided trees that will provide shade and fruit at the same time, this is because they are less chances of cutting them down because everyone benefits from them twice a year when they bear fruit, then we will go on to planting indigenous trees which last longer and provide more soil stability,” says Joseph Kafuuma, speaking on behalf of the Agriculture for Health and Wealth Company Limited, financed by Equity Bank.