Emafini Primary bookworms win

PUPILS at Emafini Primary School beamed with pride last week as the school was crowned the Phendulani quiz champions once again.

The team from Kwadwesi won two of the four rounds in the competition, making them this year’s champs and dethroning last year’s winners, Sanctor Primary School.

The competition was established to create awareness about the power of books and reading among schools that do not have well-stocked libraries.

The teams were tasked with reading as many books as they could, with questions based on the content of the books.

Emafini Primary School teacher Linda Marawu said the pupils had really worked hard to win.

“We had 17 books to get through and the books arrived in May while we were busy with the exams, so we had to push hard,” Marawu said.

She said since the competition began eight years ago, the school had been active participants

“At some point we used to stay after school to practise but due to safety concerns we had to change that routine to break time.

“Occasionally we also gave the pupils the opportunity to take the books home to read and thereafter come back and summarise what the book is about to the other pupils,” she said.

Marawu said her role was to help the pupils understand the content of the books.

During the competition, the laughter that filled the room showed how entertained the pupils were by Grey Junior School teacher Grant Butler, who was the host.

The four other local schools that also participated in the quiz were Sanctor, Fumisukoma, Thornhill and Zanoxolo primary schools.

The books were sourced in Johannesburg, with St George’s Preparatory School librarian Rosemarie Roth coordinating the project in Port Elizabeth.

“This is an outreach programme that we [the helping schools] embark on annually in September.

“This after we noticed that some schools do not have libraries,” Roth said.

“And we wanted their children to experience the power of reading, so we teamed up and we started this competition.

“We provide transport, prizes, gifts and refreshments on the day of the quiz,” Roth said.