Africa-Press – Malawi. Nkhata-Bay Boys Secondary School is the champion of the 2023 ATEM NED Speech Writing Competition while Mzuzu Government Secondary School produced national winners of the 2023 SADC Essay Writing Competition.
The Association for the Teaching of English in Malawi (ATEM) Northern Education Division (NED) Chapter holds a competition in one of the writing skills every year to allow students in the division to sharpen their reasoning, research, and writing skills.
331 entries from 37 secondary schools across the division were marked to determine the winner and Alexander Mwandira of Nkhata-Bay Boys Secondary School emerged as the overall winner. He went away with MK350,000.00, a certificate, a gold medal, and ACB-branded materials.
Carolyn Banda of Ekwendeni Girls Secondary School came second and pocketed MK200,000.00, a certificate, ACB branded materials, and a silver medal while Felix Chilolo of Saint John Bosco was a bronze medal winner with a cash prize of MK100,000.00, a certificate and ACB branded materials.
Grace Bushiri from Ekwendeni Girls Secondary School was named the best performer of the competition in the junior category while Emma Manda was named the best performer in the Community Day Secondary School category.
Students were tasked to write a speech imagining that they are Guest of Honour at this year’s silver jubilee celebrations for the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) highlighting notable achievements, best practices employed in combating corruption, challenges faced, and way forward.
Speaking to Maravi Post at a colourful prize presentation ceremony held at Nkhata-Bay Boys Secondary School on Friday, the overall winner, Alexander Mwandira, encouraged fellow learners to always work hard.
“I put everything into this competition. I had to understand what the question wanted to gather correct information. I can only encourage fellow learners to keep on working hard so that we can achieve more through education,” he said.
At the same event, 15-year-old Thokozani Kondwani from Mzuzu Government Secondary School received 500 US Dollars as a national winner of the 2023 SADC Essay Competition. Fazila Manduwa, also from the same school, was in second position and received 300 US Dollars. Elijah Tembo of Blantyre Secondary School was in position 3 and got US$200.
Students in the whole SADC region were challenged to put their ideas on paper regarding the topic How can SADC promote industrialisation for inclusive, resilient and sustainable economic growth? After receiving the award, Thokozani Kondwani, a girl who comes from Salima, said it was so exciting to win the competition at the national level.
Said Kondwani: “Naturally, I have a passion for writing. My passion grew when I was introduced to the Writers Club at our school. Writing is both fun and an important skill examined at MSCE and as learners, we need to always try to improve our writing skills.”
Education Division Manager for the North, Jennings Matalabanda Kayira, said the division through ATEM will hold a mega Continuous Professional Development (CPD) activity in January 2024 to equip teachers of English with more skills so that learners should be doing well in English as a subject.
“Much as our division was on top in terms of performance at MSCE last year, students did not do well in English as a subject. We feel that when our teachers of English attend this mega CPD, they will become good teachers in the subject. We have also put in place a number of measures which will help in dealing with indiscipline in our schools,” said Kayira.
ATEM NED President, William Phiri, said NED is now striving to produce international winners in writing competitions. “We are doing better in these competitions. We have winners at the national level in the SADC Essay competition. These two were winners in the inaugural ATEM NED Essay Competition last year and now they are national winners of this SADC Essay Competition. We should be able to produce international winners shortly and it is possible,” he said.
For More News And Analysis About Malawi Follow Africa-Press
