REGION 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) won the 2017 Ministry of Education (MOE) Primary School Teachers’ Jeopardy Competition.
The activity forms part of the ministry’s calendar of activities for Education Month 2017 and was held in in association with Hodder Education.

In a keenly contested competition on Tuesday, the three teachers from the mining town won with a score of 7000 points, followed by the defending champions Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) with 400 points. Georgetown District was third with zero points after they unsuccessfully wagered all their points in the final jeopardy. The competition which is now in its second year, saw participation from eight of the 11 educational districts.

Giving an overview of the competition before a packed audience including teachers, students and MOE officials at the Pegasus Hotel, Verina Layne of the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD) said that the competition has grown markedly since it first started in 2015.

Layne said that such a competition is important for a number of reasons, chief among them, is the fact that it offers innovative ways in teaching at a time when the education system in Guyana is undergoing major changes to improve the standard of education across the country. The competition commenced with the eight districts participating in a preliminary round from which the three teams with the highest scores went on to the final round where they participated in three rounds; Jeopardy, Double Jeopardy and Final Jeopardy.

During the competition, the teachers were quizzed on a number of subject areas such as general knowledge, riddles, flags and Caribbean cuisine. The competitors performed admirably with most of the teams making a meaningful contribution thus making it a very competitive event, the Ministry of Education said in a release.

Defending champions Region Four, acquitted themselves like champions for the majority of the competition but Region 10 was always ‘hot on their heels’, the release added. It said those in attendance were engrossed for the duration of the competition. “Many in attendance had Georgetown as a firm favourite but Region 10 was not to be outdone and kept themselves in the hunt for all of the competition,” the release stated.

According to the release it was during the final round that Region 10 made a very decisive move in their quest to win the competition. Through crowd favourite, Ferdinand McLeod, the winning region racked up a series of points leaving the other regions in their wake. The finalists and winners were presented with trophies and gift certificates.

The winning team was represented by McLeod, Cheryl Wills and Camille Cummings. The regions that participated in this year’s competition were Regions One (Barima-Waini), Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Three (West Demerara-Essequibo Islands), Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), 10 (Upper Demerara- Upper Berbice) and Georgetown.

Education Month 2017 is being celebrated under the theme ‘Promoting Wellness in Communities Through Quality Education’.