By Manasse Nyirenda

Rumphi, Mana: Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has awarded three top performing students in a letter writing competition that run from February to March 2022 with various prizes including laptop computers.

The awards were presented over the weekend at a ceremony that took place at Mhuju Community Day Secondary School (CDSS) in Rumphi District.

The three are Chrisalom Chinthu Phiri, a Form 1 student at Lilongwe Girls Secondary School, Asante Munthali who is a Form 4 student at Mhuju CDSS and a Form 2 Benedict Chamatambe of Loyola Secondary in the respective order.

Director of Administration in the Ministry of Education, James Manyetera said the competition was one of the ways of enhancing creativity in writing skills and providing a platform for students to clearly express their ideas.

Manyetera further said the initiative complements his ministry’s efforts in delivering quality education to the learners.

“Currently each curriculum has to undergo review if beneficiaries and stakeholders feel it’s not up to standard. We have currently embarked on curriculum development exercise which should take not less than three years.

 This is done to ensure that we deliver quality education to the beneficiaries who are mostly learners at different levels to ensure that after attaining higher education either get employed or create self-employment using the knowledge gained at school,” said Manyetera.

He also encouraged learners in remote areas across the country to participate in the competition because they also have a potential of emerging winners of the competition.

Board Chairperson for MACRA, Stanley Khaila said the board decided to hold the ceremony in a rural area of Mhuju to enhance awareness about the letter writing competition which he described as crucial in enhancing critical thinking amongst learners.

He also said he was very impressed with the contents of the winners’ letters which he said had a lot of policy issues.

Chrisalom Chinthu Phiri who went away with a laptop computer and other items said she frequently reads and practices writing to perfect her writing skills and urged her fellow student’s others to join the competition next year.

The competition started in 1971 and in this year’s, contestants aged between nine and 15 years were required a letter to someone with influence on climate change crisis and why they should take action on it.

The winner’s letter was addressed to Minister of Natural Resources and came on top of 211 competitors.

 Phiri’s letter will compete with other winners from various countries under the Universal Postal Service of the United Nations which aims at creating awareness of roles that postal services play and foster international friendship amongst participants.

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