BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – READING is considered to be a very important part of a child’s development. Courts, in understanding the need for reading improvement in the Federation, has teamed up with the Ministry of Education and has launched the local leg of the Courts/OECS Reading Competition.
The launch took place yesterday (Sept. 21) at the Tucker Clarke Primary School, the school of the winner of last year’s Finals competition.
The competition has three stages starting with each primary school having an in-house competition in which a number of students will compete and the winner would then move on to the next stage.
The winner from each school would then compete against one another in the Semi-Finals and the overall winner will advance to the Regional Finals.
The Regional Finals will see the winners from each OECS country competing for the title of ‘Courts/OECS Reading Champion’.
Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Joycelyn Archibald-Pennyfeather said that there are eye-catching prizes to be won.
She explained that the competition assesses the reading fluency, accuracy, pronunciation, smoothness, confidence and expression of the eight and nine year old participants.
Each participant is expected to read a story and a news item.
All participating students will receive prizes. For each prize given to the students, the equivalent will be given to the respective school. For the Semi-Finals, the fourth and fifth placed students will each receive EC$300. The third placed student will be given EC$500.
The second placed student will receive EC$750 while the first placed winner wins EC$2 000. The schools will also benefit likewise.
For the Regional Finals, along with a financial gift, each student will also be given a laptop. The sixth, fifth and fourth placed winners will each receive $1 000. The third placed winner will receive $2 000.
The second placed winner will receive $3 000, and the first placed winner will be given $5 000. The winning school will also be given $5 000.
Courts’ OECS Communications Manager, Anita James said that Courts is in its third year of hosting the competition at an OECS level. Courts is proud of their role through the competition of being part of the reading improvement programme among youths.
She explained that Courts is focusing on the age group eight to nine because they believe that if children become excited about reading at an early age, it is more than likely that it will continue with them throughout their lives.
The 2010 Courts/OECS Reading Champion, Jendayi Omowale, showed the persons in attendance why she became the champion. With well spoken remarks, she described what the competition has done for her and reported on her experience in Grenada, where she attended the Regional Finals Competition last year.
Chief Education Officer, Dr. Patrick Welcome congratulated and thanked Courts for taking the competition into their hands and pleaded with the students to work very hard to make something of themselves.
The Semi-Finals is expected to be held at the St. George Anglican Parish Hall at 10:00 a.m. on October 3 while the Regional Finals will be taking place in St. Kitts at the Sir Cecil E. Jacobs Auditorium of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) on October 20.
