Northlea shines at Old Mutual schools quiz tourney

TWO provinces, Matabeleland North and Mashonaland West, failed to take part in the Old Mutual Schools Quiz provincial finals held over the weekend as their competitions had to be abandoned due to low turnout by participating schools.

As such, eight provinces with three schools each, made it to the national finals scheduled for May 25 in Harare. A record 200 schools from across the country participated in the new season of Old Mutual Schools Quiz and Northlea came out tops at the Bulawayo finals with Gifford and Montrose Girls High taking first and second place respectively. Fletcher, Shungu High and Regina Mundi were selected to represent Midlands while Mtshabezi, Wanezi and St Mary’s secured slots to represent Matabeleland South. Gunning for Masvingo will be Pamushana, Sandon Academy and St Anthony with Zengeza 1, Prince Edward and Seke 1 holding fort for Harare. St Ignatius, Daramombe and Watershed will represent Mashonaland East.

Old Mutual Schools Quiz spokesperson Takudzwa Tsikwa, however, said all hope was not lost for students from Matabeleland North and Mashonaland West as the two provinces could still be allowed to host their provincial finals.

“We had eight provinces that took part in the Old Mutual Schools Quiz provincial finals held at the weekend as the other two could not hold theirs because not many schools participated. However, before May 25, we should have winners from these two provinces,” Tsikwa said.

The winning school from each province walked away with a laptop courtesy of Old Mutual for the quiz club to enable further research. All the provincial winners are set to be awarded with trophies at the national finals which will be broadcast live on ZBCtv.

“Since 1983, when Old Mutual launched the quiz programme, focus was always on high schools however, primary schools now participate as a measure of empowerment and recognition of their ability,” Tsikwa said.

“Zimbabwe is only third to India and United Kingdom in terms of school quiz participation. Quiz is a national culture in these three countries.”