Unilever Uganda Limited, under their Blueband brand, rewarded the top schools, pupils and teachers in their just concluded HI5 Blueband Schools Puzzle Challenge at a colourful Grand finale ceremony held at the Sheraton Hotel Kampala. The campaign that started last year, centered around the theme of optimal nutrition reaching 985 schools while engaging over 600,000 school going children as participants.
Blueband adopted the “HI 5” theme to advocate for the five micro nutrients present in Blueband namely vitamin A, D, B6, Niacin and Folic Acid. These micro nutrients when taken with the recommended five daily meals, will impart five attributes to a child that will enable strong bones and teeth, good vision, energy, growth and immunity.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Assistant Commissioner for Primary education Dr. Tony Mukasa-Lusambu lauded Unilever’s efforts to enrich children and parent’s knowledge on optimal nutrition which is essential for healthier families.
In his remarks, the Assistant Commissioner further commended Unilever for its efforts to raise awareness about nutrition and engaging parents and youth to take an interest in their health and education saying; “We must engage students in the process and give them the knowledge and experience to make their own healthy choices. It is therefore important that we as parents, teachers and institutions take the lead in advocating for programs that bring attention to education and nutrition.”
Schools together with pupils across Uganda competed in the promotion by collecting tokens which were made available under the label lid of special promotional packs of Blueband for parents to purchase. Each child was also issued with a nutrition information meal planner booklet with the brand’s call to action to both pupils and parents to follow a proper diet by eating foods rich in micro nutrients.
Also, speaking at the grand finale event, Unilever Uganda Ltd Country Manager Peter Muchiri said: “This time around, the HI5 Blueband Puzzle Challenge was regionally based so that more schools, pupils and teachers could participate in this activity. And we are proud that the results have shown even higher numbers of participation. We wanted to get primary school students to learn about nutrition issues in an engaging and fun way and to learn from each other.”
The campaign which was championed by Dr. Sabrina Kitaka, a leading pediatrician at Mulago National Referral Hospital and Senior Lecturer with the Department of Pediatrics Makerere University College of Health Sciences said; “Childhood is a time of critical growth in which proper nutrition is absolutely necessary. Children who have poor diets – whether because of a lack of food or because of patterns of eating that lead to inadequate intake of nutrients – are prone to significant short-term and long-term health impacts and diseases. Children afflicted by sustained poor nutrition are at greater risk for obesity, mental and emotional health problems, and a failure to thrive academically.”
The grand pupil prize for the top 2 students nationally went to ZALWANGO MELODY from City Parents Primary School and MUNGUCI PATRICIA from Christ the King Primary School. Both won a fantastic Educational tour of East Africa to the Nile and Tanzania’s island of Zanzibar accompanied by their guardians.
The national campaign awarded the top schools per region that have the highest number of tokens collected by supporting a school project.
1. 1st Prize – School project worth 25 million UGX :
• Buganda Road Primary School(Central)
• Lifeway Nursery And Primary School(East)
• Christ The King Primary School(North)
• St. Maria Gorette Primary School(Southwestern)
2. 2nd Prize – School project worth 10 million UGX:
• City Parents Primary School(Central)
• Victoria Nile Primary School(East)
• Arua Primary School(North)
• St Francisco Primary School(Southwestern)
3. 3rd Prize – School project worth 5million UGX :
• Real Quality Junior Primary School(Central)
• Dawn Prime Academy Primary School(East)
• High Land Primary School(North)
• Mbarara Municipal Primary School(Southwestern)
The top children per region who brought in the highest number of puzzle tokens to their schools received a voucher put towards their school fees.
1. 1st Prize – School Fees Voucher worth 3 million UGX:
• Talemwa Emmanuel – Real Quality Junior (Central)
• Akecha Comfort – Arua Primary School.(North)
• Arinaeitwe Edwin – St.Maria Goretti (South Western)
• Arakara Gabriel – Lifeway Nursery & Primary(East)
2. 2nd Prize – Schools Fees Voucher worth 2million UGX:
• Nabasire Annet (Central)
• Soma Mercy (East)
• Angelo Wesley (North)
• Amutuheirwe Daniel (South West)
3. 3rd Prize – School Fees Voucher worth 1millionUGX.
• Kwagala Dinah (Central)
• Nakenyeze Edith (East)
• Edupu Yusuf (North)
• Mugalaasi Castrol (Southwest)
The best teacher champions for the campaign per region were also be rewarded for their efforts.
1. 1st Prize – 1.5 million UGX:
• Wamala Cyrus (Central)
• Mugabi John (East)
• Alinyaro Celina (North)
• Atwine John (South West)
2. 2nd Prize – 1million UGX:
• Nasanga Emmaculate-(Central)
• Ogwang Dennis-(East)
• Mindreru Claire-(North)
• Grace Kamazooba-(Southwest)
3. 3rd Prize – 500,000 UGX for the 12 best remaining teachers:
FROM NORTHERN:
• Akot Betty
• Achwera Denis
• Ajot La Ndema
FROM SOUTHWESTERN:
• Mukamarinda Phoebe
• Nalugo Flowrence
• Tushabe Janat
FROM EASTERN:
• Aring Simon Peter
• Namulemba Anthony
• Kisaame Timothy
FROM CENTRAL:
• Mugomba Derick
• Sekimpi Derick
• Okia Agustine
Unilever will continue to advocate for the nutrition and education agenda through their Blueband brand across the country with new and innovative promotions.
