Citi FM Launches ‘The Literacy Challenge’

Accra-based radio station, Citi 97.3 FM has launched a new nationwide educational competition to promote literacy among the Ghanaian youth.

Dubbed, ‘The Literacy Challenge’, the new competition seeks to reward the overall all-round student with GHS10000.

It was launched at the Shield International School in Adenta with key Citi FM personalities and sponsors – Milky Magic, BIC, Cowbell and Slydepay - engaging the students with insightful conversations about the importance of reading, writing and speaking eloquently. The young people were also encouraged to aspire to be all-round students so that they can adapt to any situation that they find themselves in the future.  

Over the past twelve years, Citi FM has been particularly passionate about Literacy in Ghana and has rallied the Ghanaian populace to take reading and writing seriously, especially through their national Write-Away Contest, a writing competition for Ghanaian pupils between the ages of 10 and 14 years.

Host of the Citi Breakfast Show and Head of News Programming at Citi 97.3 FM, Bernard Koku Avle, explains why a radio station should be so concerned about something like Literacy.

“Having conversations on radio about issues as weighty as Ghana’s Literacy situation is a good thing; it’s progress and it does get results, after all radio they say gets results. But progress does not necessarily translate into significant impact and that’s why we do what we do at Citi FM. Yes, our job is to talk, but activism also requires you to be on the ground [and] to devise innovative ways of helping to solve the very problems that we talk and complain about.”

Bernard further explained that “The Literacy Challenge is a nationwide contest-style campaign that promotes Literacy in Ghana. We’re running it for three months, on three (3) levels, with an ultimate prize of GH₵10,000 for whoever wins first place. The aim of The Literacy Challenge is to identify and to reward the most-outstanding ‘all-round’ JHS student in Ghana,” Mr. Avle details.

“However, through the campaign, Citi FM also seeks to promote Literacy in Ghana, while shedding light on the importance of recognising that there are different kinds of intelligences that Ghana’s young people are blessed with and that none is more important than the other.

Ultimately, we hope to further influence the national conversation about Education in Ghana and to persuade stakeholders to begin to think about Education from a different perspective that will be more beneficial for the progress of our nation.”

In order to enter The Literacy Challenge, interested candidates are tasked to, in not less than six hundred (600) words, Write a letter to the President of the Republic of Ghana, suggesting to him how to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa, which must be endorsed by a parent or guardian. These scripts then enter into a fierce competition, for the top Fifty (50) spots.

The top fifty (50) contestants from across Ghana shall make their way to The Literacy Challenge Test Centre, in Accra, to take a written, General Knowledge quiz. The top ten (10) shall then proceed to the third and final level, to compete for the ultimate GH₵10,000 as well as bragging rights. Level III takes the form of the traditional “Quiz Master/Mistress and Contestants” style, in a bid to test various skills.

During the three-month campaign, The Literacy Challenge School Engagement Series, which is a road show of sorts, enables Citi FM staff and personalities, Literacy Challenge Sponsors, as well as examiners, to interact with students in their schools. These interactions afford Citi FM the opportunity to educate students about the invaluable skills and benefits of reading, writing, public speaking, being an all-round student and to introduce them to the dynamics of The Literacy Challenge.

The Literacy Challenge 2017 is sponsored by Milky Magic ....Yummy Nutrition!; Cowbell…OUR MILK; BIC...Always gives you more and SlydePay and is powered by Citi 97.3 FM.