School uniform 'dress up' initiative not political – Stanbic Bank clarifies

Stanbic Bank has said that the ‘school uniform’ dressing theme its staff are rolling out this week is solely an education product the bank is presenting its clientele and has no political motivation like is being suggested.

Rumors went rife that some banks, particularly, the Stanbic Bank is advocating government’s flagship education program; the Free SHS. This follows the dress up initiative staff of the bank embarked on this week, where majority of them wore uniforms to work rather than the usual formal banking attire.

Speaking in an interview with Head of Marketing and Communications at Stanbic Bank Ghana, Mawuko Afadzinu, he indicated that contrary to reports, the initiative was solely part of a package plan adopted by the bank to help promote their Education Plan product (Edu Plan) which seeks to help parents and guardians secure quality education for their wards.

“It is part of an engagement and a conversation we are having with parents and guardians and we are speaking on the need for us to start preparing and creating opportunities for our children right from today. Our future starts now and that is what we are projecting in the branches all across the country just to let everyone who loves their children know that they can create opportunities, they can create avenues for their children to be the best possible they can be in life, by making the right investments, by taking advantage of a wonderful solution we have called the EduPlan.”

Education Plan (Edu Plan) he explained, has been in the system for over a period now. As part of innovative measures, they adopt specific themes, so parents can relate and also to relay the message about investing in children and the results it can produce. The only difference this time he added, is the fact that it coincides with the introduction of government’s Free SHS program and hence merged with the larger conversation.

“This particular activation started a couple of weeks ago and another iteration took place this week. Activations are a way of life for us because we believe in connecting with our communities, so be it Farmers Day, we go out and recognize the farmers. We’ve done ‘back to school’ a couple of times where we did the uniform. This is something we do traditionally around this time….One of the reasons why it has resonated now is because of the whole larger conversation in our society, and the fact that the scope for education has been broadened by some of the innovations we have in our country:”

He charged the public to desist politicizing the initiative, rather he said, parents should capitalize on government’s Free SHS policy to invest in funds for the tertiary level of their wards.

“In Ghana, we have a way of turning virtually everything into a political conversation, this is beyond the political conversation, this is about the people we care for, this is about ensuring that they have a future, a future that will guarantee them a solid life and above us.”

“Because a lot more people are going through at the secondary level now freely, preparations for the tertiary and the higher levels ought to start today because the burden of secondary school has been taken off you, you ought to start planning for tertiary now.