NYAMAGABE – Senate’s vice-president, Jeanne d’Arc Gakuba, has called on young girls to work diligently in order to improve their school performance.Gakuba made the comments while addressing students and parents from Nyamagabe and Nyaruguru districts on Saturday during a function to reward school girls who excelled in last year’s national examinations. The event was organised by Imbuto Foundation.Twenty nine girls from Nyamagabe and Nyaruguru received certificates of merit signed by the First Lady, Jeannette Kagame, an assortment of scholastic materials and Rwf20, 000 in cash.Also awarded, were the "Guardian Angels” (commonly known as Malaika Murinzi), who received a Friesian cow each. Guardian Angels are parents who have shown remarkable compassion and selflessness by adopting and caring for vulnerable children. The initiative to reward outstanding female students seeks to promote girls’ education."Today, you are committing yourselves to excellence. Keep on distinguishing yourselves for others to learn from you,” Gakuba told the prize recipients."You have role models whom you can learn from. Each of you, including those who received awards and those who did not, should always endeavour to excel in whatever you do”."Whatever you want today, you will afford in the near future if you keep performing well,” she said.One of the beneficiaries, Marie Louise Mugirwanake, a student at Groupe Scolaire de Kigeme, attributed her success to the previous rewards she received from Imbuto Foundation while she was still at the primary school level."It encouraged me and pushed me to keep working hard. This initiative is helping girls to improve their school performance. Today, we are even doing better than our brothers,” observed the Senior Four student who was also awarded in 2009."I encourage girls to be guided by discipline, hard work and devotion. With that, we will achieve even bigger”.In an effort to promote girls’ education, Imbuto Foundation has, since its establishment rewarded about 2,584 school girls, in primary and secondary schools.It is expected, that this year, 411 best performing female students from last year’s national examinations’ will receive prizes countrywide.