Trust Bank awards ten outstanding students

Trust Bank Gambia Limited one of the leading financial institutions in the country has again fulfil its social cooperate responsibility by awarding ten outstanding students.

According the bank's officials this is the tenth time that Trust Bank is offering such a gesture as their contribution to the country's education sector.

This year, the ten Gambia's most outstanding students of the 2009 Grade 9 Examinations (GABECE) were from three schools namely: Methodist Academy, Charles Jow Memorial and Ndow's Comprehensive.

The annual award is referred to as 'The Excellence in the Millennium Award.'

This year's award ceremony was held at the Laico Hotel, formerly called Corinthian Atlantic Hotel in Banjul.

Analysts say this kind of gesture have seen the need to join hands with the government in providing access to education to country's future leaders.

Speaking on the occasion, Pa MM Njie, Managing Director of Trust Bank revealed that this year's awards was the 10th of its kind.

"This important milestone," Managing Director Njie said, "was made even more outstanding by the fact that this year, a record number of 22 candidates scored aggregate 6 in the Gambia Basic Education Certificate Examination GBECE."

He said Trust Bank remains passionately committed to the promotion of quality education and healthcare delivery and the development of grassroots sports as a prerequisite to nation-building.

He continued that the 'Trust Bank Excellence in The Millennium Awards' was conceived for the following reasons: To recognise and reward outstanding students, to reinforce the bank's commitment to the education sector, to recognise the achievement of the schools responsible for their results and to showcase these students with the aim of providing future grade 9 students with role models to emulate.

He added that in recognition of the awardees' outstanding achievement, he was really delighted to announced that each of the awardees will be awarded a Trust Bank Certificate of Excellence and D6, 000 paid into a savings account specially opened for them.

He revealed that to commemorate this 10th edition of the Trust Bank Excellence in The Millennium Awards his Bank decided to awards the Methodist Academy D15, 000 as a special recognition for producing 6 of the 10 awardees, D10, 000 to Charles Jow Memorial for producing 3 and D5, 000 to Ndow's Comprehensive for producing 1.

Mr. Njie reaffirmed his bank's commitment to partner with government in the area of health, education and sports, adding that it is in line with this commitment that the education sector was assisted last year with the one million dalasi donation to the Rotary Club of Banjul. This, he said, is geared towards building and equipping a modern Science laboratory for the use of all the schools in the Greater Banjul Area.

According to him Trust Bank believes that the attainment of Vision 2020 is intricately linked with the advancement in Science and Technology. And as such his bank has vested interest in encouraging, motivating and providing access to such a vital resources to their own future scientists.

He added that this year's award was a show of his Bank's commitment and continued resolve to strengthen the enduring partnership with the Ministry of Basic and Secondary School in a bid to provide quality education for development. He congratulated the awardees and their teachers for their outstanding achievements, and encouraged them to keep up the excellent performance.

He noted that the awardees' performance was a culmination of years of hard work on their part, sacrifice, patience and support on the part of the parents and guardians.

For her part, Mrs. Fatou Lamin Faye, Minister of Basic and Secondary Education registered her heartfelt gratitude and thanks to the Trust Bank management for demonstrating yet its corporate social responsibility in complementing the efforts of the government in the drive towards providing quality and relevant education for all. She describes the initiative as a step in the right direction.

"To recognise and honour grade 9 students whose performance in the GABECE was worthy of emulation is laudable," she said.

Minister Faye asserted that Trust Bank's encouragement is not only necessary for enhanced performance but also the reduction of the cost burden in education from parents, particularly the poor whose participation in higher levels of education must grow dramatically as the Gambia approaches universal basic education.

She emphasised that the hearts of the overall sector and like the other education levels seek an increase in resources to enroll more children and young people as well as improve the quality of education being provided. She said the benefit of this added value to education service delivery in the Gambia could be conspicuously traced to the corporate social responsibility of Trust Bank LTD, whose contribution to the socioeconomic advancement of this country is beyond measure.

 She highlighted that supporting a wide range of educational initiatives is enough testimony to the fact that the profit accrued from society is ploughed back to support educational investment, the returns of which reciprocate the support to the private sector in the utilisation of the human resource produced as a result of such investment.

She said her ministry would continue to encourage such meaningful partnerships.

Such partner initiatives and programmes, Minister Faye went on, place a great deal of emphasis on the desire to cast a much wider net of public/private partnership which will represent opportunities to mobilise indigenous and sustainable support for scaling up local implementation of education sector programmes.

"The bank in recognition of the fact observes this social responsibility," she said, adding that education, which happens to be a problem in any developing country, given that it attacks poverty at the roots and strengthens as well as empowers individuals, families and communities.

"It also offers societies even deeper and wider returns for health and economic growth," she added.

She said: "Trust Bank further recognises that the satisfaction of these needs empowers individuals in any society and confers upon them a responsibility to respect and build upon their collective cultural, linguistic and spiritual heritage. This societal responsibility promotes the education of others in order to take forward the cause of social justice which ensures that commonly accepted humanistic values and human rights are upheld."

She stressed that in consonance with the above ideals, the 2004-2015 education Policy of the Gambia focuses on ensuring that the right to quality education for all is upheld and that education for all with its ramifications and the education-related Millennium Development Goals are achieved.

 Noting that the absolute necessity of achieving basic education for economic and human development must not overshadow the enormous pressure on post-base education brought about by the progress towards and hopefully, the achievement of Education for All, she posited that secondary education is a gateway to the opportunities and benefits of economic and social development.

The ten awardees were: Nellie A. Campbell, Fanta Fofana, Fatoumatta Jallow, Mam Goree Sock, Naffisatou Sonko, and Kuta B. Suso all are from Methodist Academy.

While Alhagie Lamin Jallow, Alhagie F. Nget, Ali Sumbundu all from Charles Jow Memoria.

Makumba Jallow from Ndow?s Comprehensive Upper Basic School all the above mentioned students scored aggregate 6. Dodou Nyang, Trust Bank's Marketing Manager chaired the ceremony while Nellie A. Campbell a student from Methodist Academy gave the vote of thanks on behalf of fellow colleagues.