TWO OF BERBICE and Guyana’s leading sport organisations, the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTY&SC) and the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), have joined hands to host a historic Scrabble tournament for secondary schools in Region Six.The tournament, the first of its kind to be organised in Berbice on a major scale, would be sponsored by Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited and has received the blessings of the Ministry of Education Region Six.
Administrative Officer of the BCB, Alisa Moonsee said 17 schools in Berbice would take part in the tournament, which would be held in three categories – junior students, ages 12-14, senior students 15-18 years and teachers.
The winner of each of the three categories would receive cash prizes along with trophies and the main aim of the tournament, according to Moonsee, is to promote the importance of education to youths, to assist students to improve their literary skills and to assist students in formulating words.
The scrabble tournament will start after a special training programme is organised to train one teacher from each school, who in turn will train students to play scrabble. Each school will also be provided with scrabble sets.
Chairman of the BCB’s 75th anniversary committee and Secretary/CEO of the RHTY&SC, Hilbert Foster, hailed the hosting of the scrabble tournament as historic and urged the participating schools to make sure that the game is promoted at all other schools.
First vice-president Anil Beharry noted that while cricket remains the main objective of the BCB, it was delighted to play a part in the development of youths in their educational pursuits.
Region Six Education Officer for secondary schools, Selestina La Rose praised both the RHTY&SC and the BCB for promoting scrabble in the schools, saying the formulation of words is very important in the education sector, even as she expressed the hope that the tournament would become an annual one.
Branch Manager of Republic Bank, New Amsterdam branch, Randolph Sears expressed pleasure that the bank was approached to sponsor the event.