GES applauds Junior Graphic for essay competition
The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr Eric Nkansah, has lauded the Junior Graphic for its efforts to promote the culture of reading and writing among schoolchildren across the country.
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According to him, a major component of the government’s educational reform agenda was improving the reading and writing skills among learners, especially at the foundational level, and so it was prudent to recognise such laudable initiatives.
“As implementers of our pre-tertiary educational policies, championing improvement in learning outcomes for all Ghanaian children, we sincerely applaud the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) and particularly the Junior Graphic for working to complement the effort of the GES.
“We will continue to collaborate with the Junior Graphic to do more for the benefit of the Ghanaian child,” he said.
Dr Nkansah, who was speaking at the launch of the Junior Graphic National Essay Competition (JGNEC) and awards ceremony in Accra yesterday, also stressed the government’s commitment to the promotion of the reading culture among children.
“We are all witnesses to the network of public libraries championed by the Ghana Library Authority (GhLA) which are all aimed at increasing the reading and writing skills of our young ones.
“The GhLA app and Icampus provide a lot of educational materials meant for learners, especially when they are on vacation.
The two are actually a testament that the government is interested in the reading culture of learners across the country,” he pointed out.
He congratulated the awardees and encouraged them to continue to make reading and writing a habit, so that they could win more awards in the future.
Dr Nkansah, together Yaw Asante Amirika, a representative of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Advisory Unit, launched this year’s JGNEC on the theme: “Unearthing and nurturing talents through writing.”
Awards ceremony
At the ceremony, 10 schoolchildren who emerged winners of the 2022 JGNEC received their prizes.
Adjoa Nyameyie Fletcher of the Pere Planque School in the Central Region, the overall winner of the competition, received an all-expenses paid trip to the United States of America, a laptop, cash prize of GH¢500 and a certificate.
Amanda Osei Owusu Fosu of the Ebenezer Memorial Educational Centre, Winneba in the Central Region, who placed second, received a tablet, cash prize of GH¢500 and a certificate.
Esinam Oppong of the Unique Child International School, Teshie in the Greater Accra Region, the third prize winner, took home a tablet, cash prize of GH¢500 and a certificate.
The rest of the awardees, who received cash prizes of GH¢300 and certificates, were Awula Kai-Mansa Okantey of the Salem Presby JHS, Teshie in the Greater Accra Region; Ama Obeng-Baffoe of the Queen’s International School in the Greater Accra Region; Aniel Otuo Serebour of the Trinity Star School in the Greater Accra Region and Benedict Dei Amoani of the St Dominic R/C Basic School, Akwatia in the Eastern Region.
The others were Rita Nana Akua Agyekum of the Garrison Basic School, Burma Camp in the Greater Accra Region; Wilhelmina D. Kuranchiewaa Frimpong of the Unique Child International School, Teshie, and Vanessa Lamisi Asiedu of the St Bernadette Soubirous School, Dansoman in Accra.
The award winners will have the opportunity, later in the year, to visit the Jubilee House to meet the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
2023 Competition
The Editor of the Junior Graphic, Hannah Acheampong Amoah, announced that this year, the essay competition would be in two phases.
She explained that the first phase would be the preliminary level, in which students from all the 16 regions in the country could participate by sending their entries to the Junior Graphic, with the best 50 essays being selected for the next stage.
In the second phase, she said, the selected 50 students would compete, out of which 10 would be selected.
She encouraged boys to participate in the competition, saying that over the years it had been an all girls’ affair.
“Students are urged to continue to buy the paper and participate in the competition to win attractive prizes,” she said.
Mrs Amoah congratulated all the winners on their efforts and urged them to continue to write articles for publication in the Junior Graphic and also study hard to make their parents and the Junior Graphic proud.
The Project Coordinator of the competition, Eugenia Asare-Tandoh, said the questions and the guidelines for the competition would soon be published in the Junior Graphic.
She added that workshops would also be organised in the regions, during which examiners would teach students how to write good essays, so that they could give of their best in this year’s competition.