Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
CHIKANGA Primary emerged champions out of the eight schools that competed in the inaugural Mutare Academic Excellence Festival where participants competed in Brian Bowl, Maths Marathon and Public Speaking.
Chancellor Junior, Chikanga Primary, Victory Primary, Mutare Adventist Primary, Fern Valley Primary, St Joseph’s Primary, Bridge Academy, make up the list of schools that participated in the exciting and educative event.
Mutare Academic Excellence Festival is an exciting educational event designed to celebrate talent, knowledge, creativity and academic excellence among primary school learners in Mutare.
The festival was held on at Mindspring Academy in Mutare on Friday.
Overall results saw, champions, Chikanga, second placed, Chancellor Junior and Fern Valley in third place, the top three schools, winning floating trophies.
The festival featured four exciting competitions namely, Brain Bowl – a fast-paced general knowledge and academic quiz testing learners’ knowledge, reasoning and teamwork, Spelling Bee – a fun-filled and challenging competition designed to develop learners’ vocabulary, spelling accuracy and confidence, Maths Marathon – a test of mathematical knowledge, mental agility, accuracy and problem-solving skills as well as Public Speaking – which is mainly an opportunity for learners to demonstrate confidence, communication skills, creativity and the ability to express ideas effectively.
The topic was: “Not in my school”.
There is was no participation fee charged to participate.
Event Sponsors, Mindspring Academy, a newly established school in Mutare Central Business District, through its director, Mr Tendai Dumbura, said: “We would like to make the festival accessible to schools and learners across Mutare, while providing a meaningful and memorable academic experience.
“We believe that academic competitions such as these provide learners with more than just an opportunity to win prizes. They help develop confidence, teamwork, critical thinking, communication, healthy competition and a love for learning.”
Guest of honour, Mutare District Schools Inspector, Mrs Tracy Mademutsa, who was represented by District Life Long Coordinator, Ms Privilege Mungure, said: “On behalf of the District Schools Inspector, and on my own behalf as the District Lifelong coordinator, I want to express our sincere gratitude to Mindspring Academy for such a noble initiative and for hosting us.
“Thank you for this great vision of investing in the future of our learners through co-curricular activities. This initiative goes a long way in identifying talent, building confidence and promoting holistic development in our children.
“We do not take your support and partnership for granted. Hosting such a big event requires resources, time and sacrifice. You have shown true corporate social responsibility and love for education.
“As the ministry, we value this partnership, and we look forward to more activities from you,” she said.
Mindspring Academy administrator, Mr Joseph Baison, said: “I was impressed by the performance exhibited by the participants from the various schools. I encourage the learners to continue working hard, shun drugs and stop bullying in schools. We really want to thank everyone including the Ministry representatives (the DSI and DLLC), The quiz master, Mr Teererayi Matibini, team of adjudicators, score and time keepers. As an institution, we support the president’s vision of living no one and no place behind.”
Mindspring Academy will formally open its doors to the first batch of learners in January 2027.
Individual winners walked away with stationery hampers, medals and certificates.
The final results of the competition had Spelling Bee gold medallists, Chancellor Junior, Maths Marathon gold medallists, Chancellor, Brain Bowl Quiz gold medallists, Chikanga Primary and Public Speaking gold medallists, Chancellor Junior.
Schools then chose one contestant to compete in an exciting word challenge that was eventually won by Chikanga Primary.
