MONTEGO, Jamaica–Jamaica’s Ministry of Education has lauded the Montego Co-operative Credit Union Schools Academic Championship Quiz, which is now in its 23rd year. The quiz, which has primary and preparatory school students competing in a manner similar to the national schools challenge quiz.
JIS News reported that Dr. Michelle Pinnock, the Ministry of Education’s Western Regional Director, praised the CU for the decision to not only stage the quiz, but stay with the project for the past 23 years.
The annual quiz has students between eight and 12 years challenging each other in subject areas, including mathematics, english language, and science, general knowledge and communication tasks and matters relating to the credit union.
It attracts an average of 16 primary and junior high, all age and preparatory schools from the western region, with its main objectives being to sharpen the students’ academic and intellectual responses, build camaraderie, and promote good conduct and a spirit of fair play, according to JIS News.
Dr. Pinnock was quoted as saying that apart from exposing the students to inter-school competition, the quiz has been helping to build the confidence of grades 5 and 6 students as they prepare for the Grade Six Achievement Test (GAST).
“Exposure is extremely important. This kind of competition can only help to boost confidence and school morale. Just seeing the students interact among themselves and then at competition with other schools is certainly a boost in the whole inter-personal situation and preparing them for the real life in high school,” she adds.
The coordinator of the competition, Jodi-Ann Martin Easy, told JIS News that a key objective of the quiz is to encourage educational development and ultimately establish a culture of saving among the participants.
Easy said that Montego Co-operative Credit Union is playing its role as a good corporate citizen in assisting to improve the education process, while developing good sportsman-like qualities among not only the students, but the teachers and even the schools.
“We have seen very keen competition over the years between the schools and at the end it is just a fact of life that there has to be a winner. In Montego Bay Co-op’s views, there are no losers as all our participants have qualities of being winners and we encourage them to see themselves and their schools as winners. These students are engaged in other inter-school competitions, including sports, so the quiz adds another dimension to their development,” .
The credit union has also provided scholarship funding.