The Lafarge Africa National Literacy Competition is an initiative designed and implemented by Ovie Brume Foundation and funded by Lafarge Africa Plc. The competition is a platform developed to further enhance the literacy skills of public primary school pupils in Nigeria and demonstrates the window of opportunity provided by Early Childhood Education, to address the literacy problems of young people in Nigeria.
The 6th edition of the competition has been unique in many ways; the initiators of the intervention, Lafarge Africa Plc and Ovie Brume Foundation have been intentional about improving on successes recorded in previous editions of the competition by initiating new strategies for the 2019 competition. The intervention phase of the project reached over 16 thousand pupils and over 600 teachers were directly involved in the coaching processes across 555 schools in 36 states and the FCT. Ovie Brume Foundation also partnered with the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) and American Corners nationwide in ensuring quality assurance and transparency of the competition at all stages.
A key achievement is the technology inclusion and adaptation into the project; the Ovie Brume Foundation designed and built a Computer Based Test platform for the project. In previous years, all competitions were oral and written tests; however, in line with technological advancement in education and the need for improvement in another key aspect of Literacy (Digital Literacy), the Computer Based Test was introduced. 74 pupils representing 36 states and the FCT participated in the regional examination at approved CBT Centers in their respective states.
Evidently, the pupils were having access to computer-based test for the very first time; the “Leader Board” showing the top scorer at each submission was visible for all to see. Enugu, Rivers, Kogi, Gombe, Kastina and Ogun emerged winners in their respective regions.
The Grand Finale of the 6th Lafarge National Literacy Competition will hold on Thursday 7th November 2019 @TheBallroom, Oriental Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos @11am. The Grand Finale will bring together 12 primary school pupils from 6 states, who are winners of the Regional competitions which were held across the 6 geo-political zones of Nigeria.
