Maltina national reading competition kicks off

Maltina national reading competition kicks off

THE Maltina National Reading Competition for secondary school students formally kicked off in Lagos recently, with the organisers encouraging students to take advantage of the opportunity and imbibe the reading culture.

Tagged "Readers are Winners", the competition, now in its fourth edition 4th edition has been designed to improve the readinf culture among the youths. Sponsored by Nigerian Breweries Plc, the initiative, according to the company's Corporate Affairs Adviser, Mr. Ageni Yusuf, who spoke to journalists in Lagos, is also intended to strongly influence the quality of scholarship and human capital development in the country.

His words: "We believe that this competition, designed for our secondary school students, will greatly support the laying of a solid foundation for the education of our youths".

Funded by the NB/Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, he noted that the goals of the competition align perfectly with the objectives of the fund set up since 1994, while reiterating the company's vision to rekindle this very vital sector of education.

Bearing in mind the need for a committed effort aimed at improving the reading culture among the youths, he listed the cardinal objectives of the competition to include; enabling students develop a reading culture and creative imagination; expanding their vocabulary, comprehension and writing abilities; encouraging independent and multi-faceted access to information; and arousing their interest on issues outside their basic curriculum.

Open only to students in SS1-SS3, he said the competition has been divided into four stages: the school, state, zonal and National, whereby each principal is expected to conduct the school examination in their respective schools on September 30, 2009 and produce the best two candidates that will represent the school at the first stage of the competition.

At the state level, which will be held on October 20, 2009, he further stated that each state including Abuja will produce the five best candidates that will proceed to the zonal stage between November 22 and 24.2009 at designated cities in the six geopolitical zones of the country including the FCT.

While the first two stages will take the format of an aptitude test that will comprise knowledge from all areas of study, he said the final four candidates emerging from each of the six geopolitical zones and three from the FCT will proceed to the National Finals in Abuja that will hold between January 24 and 26, 2010 with the last two stages requiring students to have read a total number of six books selected by Nigerian Breweries Plc on which they will be tested.

Prizes to be won include a sum of N50, 000 worth of books for the school library for each zonal winner, while the 1st runner up will receive a cash prize of N40, 000 and books worth N100, 000 for the school. The second runner up will get a cash prize of N30, 000 and books worth N80, 000 for the school at the zonal level.

At the Finals, the overall winner will be given a laptop and N200, 000 as personal gift, while the school will be given two desk top computers and books worth N650, 000. The second place winner will receive a cash gift of N150, 000, a set of computer and printer for the school including books worth N400, 000, while the third place winner will receive a personal gift of N100, 000, a set of computer and printer and N200, 000 worth of books for the school.