By Bernard Yaw Ashiadey
The search for the most inspiring and thought-provoking essays by pupils and students within the age bracket of 10 and 14 has begun in earnest as Citi FM launched the much-awaited, educational, challenging and exciting 5th edition of the “Write Away Contest” in Accra last Saturday.
Pupils, students and parents from the capital and beyond were all smiles at the Coconut Groove Regency Hotel when the topic, which was a guarded secret, was unveiled by the Acting Director, Department of Children at the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, Mariama Yayah.
“Ghana has finally discovered oil. Discuss ways that you will use the oil revenue to develop the country if you were the President of Ghana,” she announced.
The topic for the contest is to motivate young children to not only write for sheer pleasure but also to bring out the level of knowledge of young children about the current socio-economic issues surrounding them.
The Minister of Education Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu reiterated government’s commitment to raising the standard of education and getting more children of school-going age to enroll in schools all over the country.
“Government is committed to education; Ghana is now embarking on a mission to revamp our early childhood learning. We are committed to the extent of recognising that the early childhood development is at the crux of quality teaching and learning,” she said.
The Minister also commented on the fact that girl child education is still a problem even though organisations and all stakeholders are working to get more girls enrolled in schools. She however expressed her pleasure at the high number of girls in the gathering who are in school and had shown keen interest in the competition.
The event also saw the launch of ‘The Broom,’ a book authored by last year’s winner of the contest, Selassie Mensah.
According to her, the book tells the story of the conflict between the Mamprusi and the Kusasi ethnic groups in the Upper East Region, and ways of resolving the conflict in order to bring long-lasting peace to the troubled region.
When asked if she had any tips for the next batch of writers, she told them, in order to have competitive stories, they must write about specific things in the environment, and not beat about the bush but always go straight to the point.
Citi FM, as part of its contribution to the development of education in Ghana, for the past five years has organised the ‘Write Away Contest’ in its bid to encourage parents to get involved in shaping the writing skills of their children while rewarding them for their ingenuity, creativity and unique skills.
Ahead of the 2011 contest, the campaign started with a project dubbed the ‘Write Away’ clinic which provided over 700 pupils in the Accra and Tema metropolis, the opponents to be were taken through the rudiments of poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction writing.
Some of the beneficiaries included Boundary Road School in Adabraka, St. Andrew Basic School in Madina, Tema Parents Association and Rosharon School both in Tema. The rest are New Hope School in Lartebiokorshie, Trinity Academy School in Dome and St. Martin De-Porres in Dansoman.
With a mouth watering-ultimate prize package of a trip to London, South Africa and Namibia, this year’s contest will be keen and demanding of participants in order to bring the best out of them.
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