Schools quiz ends

Tafadzwa Zimoyo Arts Correspondent
MANICALAND’S St Faith’s Secondary School is this year’s winner of the inaugural the Book of African Records National High Schools Quiz which ended over the weekend. The school won scholarships for the team to study at any State university in Zimbabwe while the first and second runners-up school will travel to the Egypt and Victoria Falls respectively.

St Faith’s, which topped Zimbabwe’s best schools at Ordinary and Advanced Levels, beat 35 other schools which took part in the national school’s quiz finals from the country’s 10 provinces.

Howard Mission came out second followed by Moleli High.
Speaking at the occasion, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education Dr Washington Mbizvo commended the organisers for reviving televised quiz saying the programme was an innovative way of spreading new knowledge about Africa and the world.

The ministry partnered with ZBC and the Book of African Records by sponsoring university scholarships for the winning schools.
Founder and editor-in-chief of the Book of African Records Errol Muzawazi praised the schools and teachers for preparing seriously to the national finals.

“The Book of African Records is using quiz as a vehicle of pan-African knowledge.
“In this regard, the level of commitment from the students, the teachers and the entire staff was encouraging.

“We may expect a bigger quiz tournament next year; the future is bright for quiz,” he said.
The national schools quiz tournament will be screened on ZBCTV starting this Saturday with provincial knock outs.

More than 100 schools participated and organisers were optimistic that the televised quiz will once again claim it’s top status as the third most watched television programme in Zimbabwe after the main news bulletin at 8pm and Mutinhimira wemimhanzi/Ezomgido.

“We are satisfied with the enthusiasm in schools for the quiz contests, especially when we realise that competitive quiz has been absent on prime time television for more than a decade.

“In fact, most of the participants  this year were at kindergarten when quiz was last aired. So the numbers, just more than 100 schools participating across the country,  are satisfactory,” said Muzawazi.