THE top three national champions of this year’s edition of the Old Mutual Schools Quiz, organised by Book of African Records recently received a vehicle each as part of their wining packages that also included ICT gadgets to enhance and facilitate learning.
BY VANESSA GONYE
The national finals were held recently in Harare, a culmination of a stiff battle of the minds that started at district level in January across the country’s 10 provinces.
Bulawayo’s John Tallach High school broke a record and became the first-ever national champions from Matabeleland North province since 1983, while Zengeza High 1 from Harare Province and St Anthony’s from Masvingo settled for the second and third places, respectively.
Book of African Records representative, Takudzwa Tsikwa told NewsDay Life & Style that thousands of schools participated in the competition.
“Approximately 1 500 secondary schools were invited across the country to participate and an overwhelming majority responded positively.
“At the provincial level, top three schools from each province proceeded to the national finals, where we had 30 schools,” he said.
“The top three winners received a vehicle each to enhance mobility in school research projects, 18 state-of-the-art laptops, smartphones and tablets were also awarded to the winners as part of the sponsor’s corporate social responsibility.”
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Addressing guests at the national finals, Primary and Secondary Education minister Paul Mavima commended Old Mutual and Book of African Records for the sponsorship. “I commend non-state actors like Old Mutual and Book of African Records, who team up to bring vibrancy to the education process by deploying vast resources without motivation of profit.
“The only gain they expect is bringing diversity and excitement to the learning process,” he said.
Speaking at the same occasion, Old Mutual Group chief operations officer, Isaiah Mashinya pledged the company’s commitment to youth development.
“The quiz programme, starting this year, was re-branded from National High Schools Quiz, as it was known since the early 1980s, to Old Mutual Schools Quiz precipitated by a realisation of the power of quiz to be a tool of youth educational empowerment and we are proud to be associated with that experience,” he said.
