ICZ launches insurance essay competition for rural schools

ICZ launches insurance essay competition for rural schools

By Letwin Mubonesi

The Insurance Council of Zimbabwe in partnership with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has launched a short-term insurance essay competition for rural secondary schools nationwide.

The competition is aimed at educating and raising awareness on the use and benefits of insurance as well as to empower the country’s young population with insurance knowledge and appreciation of benefits.

The rural students are part of the approximately 60% of Zimbabwe’s rural population that depends on agricultural activities from subsistence to commercial level hence the country’s economy continues to be agro-based, providing about 70% of the manufacturing industry’s raw materials.

ICZ said in a statement, “The students will grow up and contribute to the national economy with the use and benefits of insurance inculcated in them as a security tool that will protect their agricultural activities as well as ensure continuity of activities in the event an insured disaster occurs.”

The competition is running concurrently with ICZ’s agriculture insurance awareness campaign on its digital and social media platforms.

The campaign has opened direct interaction with farmers providing necessary information and assistance on challenges faced in successfully lodging claims with insurers.

The insurance company has identified schoolchildren as another valuable channel for information dissemination to their parents who earn a living through farming; hence the competition will raise insurance awareness among rural communities at large.

Winners will win textbooks worth US$10 000 for their schools and US$4 000 for rural primary schools of their choice as the competition will be trying to address the shortage of textbooks in six rural schools as well as to provide school fees to 13 students across the country.

ICZ also reconstructed Rutengeni Primary and Secondary schools in Chipinge that were destroyed during the Cyclone Idai disaster and the schools benefited from the construction of four classrooms, two ablution blocks and an administration block.