Sal-Valley Tops MTN/Joy Reading Clubs Competition

By Mohammed Awal
awalm19@gmail.com

TWO STUDENTS from Sal-Valley Basic School, Kanda, in Accra, have emerged winners in both the junior and senior categories of the MTN/Joy Reading Clubs competition grand finale, held in Accra. The two are Barbara Amoako and Naima Abdul Majeed.
As part of their prize package, they both received a cheque for GH¢500 each, a weekend lodge at Beige Village and an educational trip to the Bunso Arboretum forest reserve.

The competition was contested by nine children selected from Kanda, Ablekuma, Osu and Burma camp communities, all in the Greater Accra enclave. The Executive Director of MTN Ghana Foundation, Mrs. Cynthia Lumor, said the project’s aim is to make reading both an educational and enjoyable social undertaking.

“Our ultimate hope is that participants will acquire the habit of reading for life,” she stated with optimism, as the project has so far impacted about 500 school children. She, therefore, admonished the school children to make reading a habit, as it opens their imaginative acumen, while enhancing their creativity.

The MTN/Joy Reading Club is an initiative established to provide interventions that encourage children between the ages of eight and 14 to read, and to enjoy the art of reading.

The competition
Nine contestants were drawn from four communities in the Greater Accra Region, namely, Ablekuma, Osu and Burma Camp, for this year’s MTN/Joy Reading Club competition grand finale held at the Y’Ello Tavern, Ridge Towers, in Accra, last Friday.

There were two categories to be contested – junior and senior. At the end of the junior section of the competition, Naima Abdul Majeed from Sal-Valley School, Kanda, was pronounced the winner, raking 101 points. Andy Osei of Oak Ridge school in Ablekuma-Agape came second with 89 points.

The senior department of the competition saw Barbara Amoako, also from Sal-Valley School, beat Nancy Dadzoe of Airforce School to the ultimate. She raked 98 points to Nancy’s 92.5. As a result, Sal-Valley emerged the overall winners of the season two edition of the MTN/Joy Reading Clubs competition.

Guidelines for the competition required that contestants read a passage, identify a photograph, and spell words chosen from the story books. They were also assessed for their diction, pronunciation, body language and punctuation.