ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE! MP Oguzu Rewards Maracha PLE Stars

MARACHA. The pupils who excelled in the 2024 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) in Maracha district have been rewarded.

At least a total of 39 pupils who passed in first grade walked home smiling after receiving mattresses from Denis Lee Oguzu, the Maracha County Member of Parliament (MP).

This was during this year’s celebration of academic excellence at Maracha primary school in Nyadri Sub-County on Wednesday, February 12, 2025.

The celebration of academic excellence is an annual event initiated 10 years ago by MP Oguzu to reward each pupil in the district who passes PLE in first grade.

This time round, Oguzu was joined by Jennifer Driwaru, the Maracha district Woman MP who extended cash support to each of the PLE stars and Ruth Ondoru Lematia, the Maracha East County MP who gave six books and a geometrical set for each of the 39 pupils.  

Other education lovers including Mark Tivu, a retired Chief Administrative Officer and Tom Aliti, a Commissioner in the Ministry of Health also joined Oguzu in pledging their support to the pupils.

Speaking to hundreds of pupils, parents, teachers, guests and Maracha district officials during the award ceremony, Oguzu said education is a tool that can transform society, a reason he is playing his role in advancing the education of the children in Maracha.

“As you know, it is not only this award which I have initiated, in all our schools in Maracha, we also managed to construct houses because we felt a teacher can’t be operating from their villages to come and teach. With the salary disparities, a teacher is very stressed, the teachers have loans, the teachers are going through a number of challenges and one way to support them is to push on with them through this kind of help,” Oguzu said.

“So, this award is to signify that if you work hard, it doesn’t matter your background, you can be rewarded. I’m a testimony of hard work; I have worked hard through my entire life, I have allowed my background not to deter me, I have said I can and that is why I became an MP despite all the challenges. These kids, if they work hard, they can excel. So, we are trying to recognize and acknowledge excellence,” Oguzu added.

He implored the communities to note that excellence shouldn’t just be an academic issue but a trigger to achieve success in whatever one does.

“In the work we do, in the villages; the LCs, VHTs and anybody who is always blessed with an opportunity to serve must lead and work to achieve success and this is what we are trying to inculcate in the minds of everyone that it is our collective responsibility to do something through this kind of acknowledgement. So, this is therefore, a footprint of hard work and I’m trying to give part of what I have to the community, I have not done it because I have,” Oguzu explained.

Oguzu, also used the occasion to give out 20 iron sheets to two talented young boys who performed for him during a recent function.

In her remarks, Hon. Driwaru said the academic excellence award program initiated by Hon. Oguzu is a very good source of inspiration to learners.

“It is to encourage those young ones that when you excel, people can come to your aid to support you, and also to say that together we can because whatever we are awarding here doesn’t come from one individual, it has come from so many education lovers. But it is very unfortunate that those who have done very well are the vulnerable children. So, that is why we want to encourage that even if you are very vulnerable from a poor background but if you do well, there are people who will always come to your aid,” Driwaru stated.

According to Edward Andruga, the Acting Maracha District Education Officer (DEO), the 39 first grades were registered in only 14 schools across the district.

He noted that Drileba Harmony of Nyoro primary school emerged as the overall 2024 PLE best pupil in Maracha district after scoring aggregate 7 while Faida Precious was the best girl with aggregate 8 from Ojapi primary school.

Andruga said as a district, they have now set a performance target for each headteacher to at least give one first grade starting this year.

He warned that any headteacher who will not meet the set target risks being demoted for not performing to the expectation.

However, Bosco Adrimundu, the headteacher of Ojapi primary school, said teachers are trying their best when it comes to teaching only that they are being demoralized by the meager pay.

He appealed to the government to consider increasing primary school teachers’ salaries so that they can get motivated to work hard for better results.

Dick Alema, the Maracha district Secretary for Social Services, commended teachers for the good performance and promised that as council, they are teaming up with other stakeholders to ensure that the results are improved this year.

But to Richard Job Matua, the Assistant Arua Resident City Commissioner (RCC), the high school dropout rate in Maracha is a catastrophe for the district.

Based on the district statistics, Matua wondered why of the 38,000 pupils who enrolled for primary one in 2018, only 2,300 completed primary seven.

He said the biggest number of the pupils who dropped out of school without completing the primary education circle are within the communities abusing drugs thus posing a serious threat for the public.

Matua appealed to every stakeholder to play their role in ensuring that children enroll and remain in school.

He further warned teachers and headteachers against failure to create impact, saying a teacher or headteacher present in school without impact is worse than being absent.

Mark Tivu acknowledged that Maracha district’s greatest challenges are low enrollment, high drop out rate and minimal transition to secondary school which must be addressed by all stakeholders for the betterment of the district.

The function later ended with merrymaking as parents, teachers and pupils joined district officials and guests in feasting on the two bulls Oguzu donated to mark the occasion.