GIRLS LEAD IN NATIONAL READING COMPETITION

Published in the Guardian of Sunday, June 11, 2006

By Mary Akparanta

The National Reading Competition has proved that Nigerian girls are better than their male counterparts.

In the zonal competitions, conducted in the six geopolitical zones and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) a clear two-third of the winners were females.  That    sane pattern was also evident in the state stage competition.

Dr Oyenike Oke, a lecturer at the University of Lagos said that the trend is in conformity with research, which shows that females are much better than boys in subject with a strong oral bias.  Females talked faster and are generally more articulate thank boys, she said.  However in subjects with a more physical bias, boys are better.

She added that because most families are now in favour of equal opportunity training for both boys and girls, the females are better motivated and are taking advantage of that.

A total of 33 students emerged from the zonal examinations, conducted in Ibadan Asaba, Enugu, Minna, gombe, Kaduna and Abuja and will participate in tomorrow’s finals.

The students were tested on the three prescribed tests supplied by the sponsors, Nigerian breweries, including General Knowledge, Information Technology, Sports and Current Affairs.  The best three of the five went away with personal cash gifts of N30,000, N15,000 and N10,000 respectively.  They also picked up book prizes worth N50,000, N35,000 and N20,000 each for their schools.

States like Osun, Oyo, Cross Rivers, Kaduna and Jigawa, whose students failed to make it to the finals in the first edition, have made it to the finals this year.

The eventual winner of the 2006 edition of the competition will get a laptop and a personal cash prize of N70,000 and the school a desktop computer and N300,000 worth of books and a plaque.  The second place winner will go home with a personal cash prize of N50,000 while the school gets a desktop computer, books worth N250,000 and a plaque while the third place winner will receive a personal cash prize of N30,000 while the school gets books worth N70,000 and a plaque.