11-year-old pupil wins C'wealth essay award

Tamale, Dec. 10, GNA - Master Pascal Alhassan, an 11-year-old Primary Five pupil of Peggy's Preparatory School in Tamale was among the prize winners of the 2005 Royal Commonwealth Society essay competition. Master Alhassan who wrote on: "The Fire Festival in Dagbon", was placed in the "D" category by the Central Council of the Royal Commonwealth Society on the recommendation of its examiners among the 21 prize winners.

He was awarded a certificate.

The Royal Commonwealth Society who organised the essay competition received 5,000 entries from 1,120 schools across the Commonwealth Nations.

The annual competition is to provide a unique opportunity for schools throughout the Commonwealth to take part in a global educational project and to promote the use of English as a leading world language in a fun and attractive way.

It is also to enable young pupils, whatever their social or scholastic background to compete on equal terms with their peers around the world, encourage them to aspire to higher standards of academic scholarship and creative writing, as well as stimulate them into good utilisation of modern Information and Communication Technology {ICT). Mrs Margaret Opoku-Antwi, Proprietress of Peggy Preparatory School, told the GNA that, winning an award from such a world organisation would not only create a competitive spirit among the pupils but also among the teachers to put in their best to turn out good products. She said the award showed that the school was on the right path and needed to work harder to win more laurels and bring honour to the school and called on the teachers to be committed to their work to bring the best out of their pupils.