PRESS RELEASE





East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 26th August 2005: The National Prize Awarding Ceremony for the winners of the Second East African Community (EAC) Students Essay Writing Competition-2005, for the United Republic of Tanzania is scheduled to take place on Monday 29 October 2005, at the Simba Hall of the Arusha International Conference Centre. Hon. Joseph J. Mungai (MP), Minister of Education and Culture of the United Republic of Tanzania, will officiate at the ceremony, scheduled to begin at 16.00hrs. In attendance will also be the Secretary General of the East African Community, Hon. Amanya Mushega, and Heads of Educational Institutions in the United Republic of Tanzania.

The winning students and schools will be awarded with several prizes, which will include among others, computers, science/library books, laboratory equipment, certificates, plaques, cash and an all-expense paid tour of the abundant natural resources located in Northern Tanzania and the Geo-Thermo Plant in Nakuru, Kenya.

The National Prize Awarding Ceremony for the winners of the EAC Students Essay Writing Competition for the Republic of Uganda is scheduled for 6 September 2005, while that of the Republic of Kenya will be on 8 September 2005.

Background to the Competition

The EAC Students Essay Writing Competition


The Essay Competition arises from the need to involve the students in the activities of the Community as well as foster an East African identity. Their participation would broaden their knowledge on the Community and its programmes on the regional integration process.

The 2005 Competition was open to East African Secondary School students (Forms 1-4 for Kenya and Tanzania and Senior 1-4 for Uganda)). The winning essays will be awarded and be widely publicized within the region through the media.


The Objectives of the Essay Writing Competition

The Competition aims:

• to create awareness among the school-going population about the activities of the East African Community;
• to enable students analyse from their own perspective how best East Africa’s natural resources can be exploited in light of the regional integration process; and
• to foster a deeper understanding among the students on the existing cultural, historical and political ties of the people of East Africa.


Topic for the Essay Writing Competition

The topic selected for the year 2005 Essay Writing Competition was:

“East Africa has abundant natural resources. Name four of these resources and explain how they could be exploited for the benefit of the people of East Africa”.

Each Participant was required to submit an essay of between 1,000-1,500 words. The essay was to be written in either English or Kiswahili.

Organisation of the Competition

The organization of the Competition involved constant dialogue between the EAC and the Partner States Ministries of Education as focal points. The following steps were implemented:

• Systematic distribution of EAC information materials in the schools, using the network of District Education and Information Offices/Media Houses in the Partner States;
• An EAC essay writing posters were widely distributed in the region;
• Advertisements announcing the competition in both English and Kiswahili were carried out in the print media;
• The EAC website (www.eac.int) was utilized as one of the channels of communication with the participating Schools and Ministries of Education focal points


Adjudication Process

The process of identifying the winning essays was as follows:

• Head teachers were responsible for constituting panels for selecting the best essay at the school level;

• The National Examination bodies were responsible for constituting adjudication panels at the National level. The best 5 essays at National Level were forwarded to the EAC through the Ministries of Education;

• The Inter-University Council for East Africa will be the adjudicating body at the Regional (EAC) level.

Information and Public Relations Office,
EAC Secretariat,
Arusha, Tanzania.