As part of efforts to spice up the education of students in rural areas and to bridge the gap between rural and urban education, Write for World Consult launched its maiden annual schools essay competition dubbed ‘Write for World Challenge’ at Santrokofi Junior High Schools in the early hours of Tuesday, July 2, 2019.
The exercise which is a pilot project has the goal, ” discovering the potentials of creative student writers; building a generation of critical thinkers.
Speaking at the programme, the Hohoe Municipal Education Director, Mrs. Gladys Amenya praised community members for their involvement in the affairs of the school and encouraged them to continue to do their best for the overall development of the school.
The municipal education director again admonished the students to take advantage of the opportunity available to them and make the best out of it. “The future is bright and you must aspire for greatness. So stop all acts of indiscipline and be serious with your books,” she said. Mrs. Amenya expressed hope in the current students and indicated that they must always challenge themselves and come out with good grades in examinations.
Mr. Humphrey Danso, the former secretary for Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) of Hohoe Municipality in his remarks acknowledged the importance of writing skills and shared how students could make a living out of writing.
In his words, “students can improve their communication skills when they develop their writing skills and this gives them confidence.” He shared how often he personally had to write for persons who needed his service for which reason writing has become his life. He said students increase their creativity and degree of imagination if they develop the habit of writing. He encouraged the students to take up this essay competition seriously and will have a story to tell in the near future.
The facilitator for the project, Mr. Jonas Kojo Mabe said he was inspired to come up with this initiative to bring finality to the blame game of elders who often blame others for the lack of formal education in the communities. In his words, he said, “growing up as a child I used to hear people within the community say I was intelligent in school but I didn’t have anybody to look after me to continue my education.” He said it was about time the story changed to I had the opportunity but I did not learn.”
With the introduction of this maiden essay competition which will also bring a lot of educational opportunities to the students, you do not have any other choice but to learn hard to achieve your dream goals, said the facilitator for write for World Challenge. Mr. Jonas Kojo Mabe called on the community to own the project for it to become an annual exercise.
Nana Otitiaku III presenting essay package to Santrokofi-Bume
The competition which is in two phases will have students write the first essay topic contained in the answer booklets and packaged in envelopes at the comfort of their homes and submit in two weeks time. Essays will subsequently be collected at schools to mark after which students above 50% pass marks would be invited to write the final essay under supervision after which the best and deserving students would receive various awards including sponsorship packages.
The regent for Santrokofi Bume, Nana Otitiaku III thanked the organizers for the project and disclosed that it was the first of its kind in the community.The community members said even though the facilitator was a native of Santrokofi-Benua, his selflessness in extending the project to the rest of other communities at Santrokofi was commendable and ought to be emulated.
The headmasters and teachers also pledged their support to make sure the project is sustained and given the necessary attention it deserved so that its goal is achieved.
The project will be extended to other community based junior and senior high schools in Oti and Volta region after Santrokofi.