Lafarge Introduces Creative Writing Assessment to Its Annual National Literacy Competition

Ugo Aliogo

Creative writing will for the first time be featured as an assessment area in the 2018 edition of the annual Lafarge Africa National Literacy Competition. This was announced at a national planning meeting for stakeholders, held in Abuja thursday to flag-off activities for this year. It is being done in a bid to both improve the quality of the competition and make Nigerian pupils more competitive with their global counterparts.

The meeting which was put together by the leading building solutions provider was attended by representatives of the State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEB) across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja as well as other strategic partners.

Key stakeholders commented at the meeting on the outlook of the competition this year. Director of Communications Public Affairs and Sustainable Development, Mrs Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, said the competition is part of Lafarge’s contribution to bridging the literacy gap in Nigeria which is essential to the continued development of our nation.

The Director of Academic Services at the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEC), Mrs. Bolanle Ishola, commended Lafarge for sustaining the competition over the past 5 years and promised UBEC’s support for the competition. On her part, the Head of Programmes for Ovie Brume Foundation- who are the implementation partners on the project, Mrs. Adeola Awogbemi, said the addition of creative writing was to improve the quality of the competition from other years.

It was also disclosed at the stakeholder national planning meeting that the grand finale of the 2018 edition of the competition will happen in Abuja. The stage is now set for its commencement following the hugely successful meeting.

The Lafarge Africa National Literacy Competition engages pupils from public primary schools across the country in activities that measure and enhance their ability to read, write and spell correctly. It also features literacy tests, essay/summary writing and spelling bees to evaluate their reading and writing abilities.

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