President’s College (PC) narrowly defeated Christ Church Secondary as the Second Annual Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) sponsored Inter-Secondary Schools Impromptu Speech Competition got underway last week.
PC, the defending champions, registered a narrow two-point win with 571 points over Christ Church’s 569. PC’s representatives Esther Kursatte, Leron Jackman and Hannah Latchman and Christ Church’s Michael Graham, Charistel Cummings and Jeanna Pearson spoke on topics such as unemployment and youth, the importance of volunteering to society, ways of making a child feel special, cruelty to animals, violence in schools and how to deal with a school bully.
The competition is being staged on a knock-out basis with each school with the higher aggregate score moving forward to the next round. It is being hosted every Tuesday and Thursday until the finals, set for May 29.
The judges were retired senior lecturer at the University of Guyana Bernadette Persaud, former Head Teacher at St Joseph High, Joan Kendall and Management Consultant Barbara Sukhai.
In her comments Sukhai said the knowledge, content and depth in the students’ answers “was just not there,” adding that students need to read more.
Meanwhile, Chief Education Officer Genevieve Whyte-Nedd said the competition is “training ground for other real life experiences.”
In his address GBTI CEO Radhakrishna Sharma said increasing demands are being placed on young people and too often the business sector has found a lack of key skills in young job aspirants, which is a constraint to employment. He said it is necessary for adjustments to be made in the schools curricula to accurately reflect industry requirements.
“There are still many young persons who need to be trained to improve their employability skills and enable them to function appropriately in the job market,” he said, while calling on public and private sector organizations and NGOs to play a committed role.
Sharma said GBTI has maintained a focus on young people with such initiatives as the Early Savers Club and Career Guidance Sessions. “This competition is no different with its salient objective of training young people to prepare for future social situations where they will have to engage in discussions and be expected to converse coherently and intelligently.”
He thanked the principals and teachers of the participating schools for their willingness to involve their schools and support the students in the competition. Meantime, GBTI’s Regent Street Branch Manager Mario Farinha said management had decided to host the competition annually.
He said though one team will be adjudged winner, “we believe that all the participants will benefit as it would help to improve oral expression of thought, develop self-confidence, allow for quick thinking and develop leadership and communication skills.”
The schools participating in the competition include Annandale Secondary, Richard Ishmael Secondary, Central High School, Covent Garden Secondary School, Cummings Lodge Secondary School, Mae’s Secondary School, Marian Academy, North Georgetown Secondary School, Queen’s College, School of the Nations, St John’s College, St Joseph High School, St Roses High School and St Stanislaus College.
Representatives from these schools attended the opening session. Thursday’s competition was hosted at the bank’s Bel-Air Recreational Centre.
