By Mohamed Ayoub Conteh
The Government of Sierra Leone and the United Bank for Africa (UBA) have partnered to conduct a national essay competition for senior schools across the country. The competition is for students attending both government and private schools.
The initiative is intended to spot bright pupils and provide the platform for them to showcase their talents. Winners of the competition will be rewarded with prize money. The top winner will receive Le50million, while the second and third best students will get Le30million and Le20million, respectively.
The Principal of the Saint Josephs Senior Secondary School in Freetown, Alberta Josephine Nancy Demby, in an interview with Politico expressed confidence in her school clinching the ultimate prize. She said English language is a core subject and every student in her school was expected to write a better essay.
Mrs Demby is expecting her girls to be at the top and she said she believed that both government and private school pupils are the same, regardless of differences in the provision of facilities. Demby further noted that pupils in government schools would be at an advantage because they pay more attention to their studies.
Isha Sesay, an SSS3 student attending the Freetown Secondary School for Girls (FSSG), was boastful and quite upbeat about her school’s chances in the competition, saying, “I know we are one of the best schools in town. I expect my school to be the victor in this competition. I believe we will meet our expectations. We know the private schools are not better than the government ones. Regardless of their facilities, we will defeat them. We are more hardworking than the private schools and we are more brilliant than them. That is why we will defeat them’’.
The government of Sierra Leone and UBA are embarking on the event as a way of testing students’ competence in writing and as an opportunity for students to display their writing skills. The national essay competition will be held annually, according to officials.
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