The Belize District Winners of the 2019 Father Marion Ganey Primary School Quiz Competition
Schools in the Belize District took part in the revived Father Marion Ganey Primary School Quiz Competition. The two winning students are from Hattieville and Belize City. The pair will now move ahead to the national competition in November, which teaches the students at an early age, the benefits of financial literacy. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Twelve-year-old Emmanuel Betson of Hattieville SDA Primary School wins the Belize District round of the 2019 Father Marion Ganey Primary School Quiz Competition. Second place goes to ten-year-old Anjali Hedage of Holy Redeemer Primary School. The two came out on top after several rounds of questions and answers centred on the credit union movement in Belize. A total of eleven schools participated in the competition.
Emmanuel Betson
Emmanuel Betson, 1st Place
“Sometimes I play and my ma tell me, stop play and get the paper. But sometimes I still noh listen and might miss out. But I continued studying until I get everything and I come first.”
Duane Moody
“You just win. How do you feel that you have won the competition and you go on to represent Belize District in the nationals?”
Emmanuel Betson
“It feels good.”
Anjali Hedage
Anjali Hedage, 2nd Place
“It’s very complicated because teachers pull you out from lessons during classes and after you get all that work done and everything and then also prepare and read questions and remember those answers; lots of numbers and names.”
Duane Moody
“But you were ready, right?”
Anjali Hedage
“Yes I was.”
Duane Moody
“Do you think you are ready for the national competition? You still have about a month for to prepare.”
Anjali Hedage
“Well I need to prepare for sure.”
The competition is underway with district competitions happening across the country. It will all culminate on November twenty-second when two primary school students from each district will converge for the national competition and bragging rights as champs. Today, at the Belize Elementary School Gymnasium in Belize City, the Belize District semi-final round was convened. The competition was recently revived and the mission is to teach the youth about financial literacy.
Clement Usher, Chief Financial Officer, Holy Redeemer Credit Union Limited
“This is a quiz competition that used to be held long ago and about five years ago, the league revived it and the Holy Redeemer Credit Union is in charge of the Belize District. And we have our sister credit unions up north doing the north and in the west and in the south. And then we all come together under one national competition, which will be held next month. These children will be the future of the credit union movement and we need to let them learn from an early age about savings. That’s why I think we are introducing financial literacy. The Central Bank, I think the Ministry of Education, the Credit Union League and individual credit unions; we are all promoting financial literacy so that people from an early age know about budgeting and savings. Those are the two major roles of financial literacy.”
Clement Usher
But knowledge aside, the participants also walk away with backpacks as well as electronic devices and cash; the schools also get cash prizes.
Clement Usher
“There are prizes for both the students and the schools. I think there are lots of tablets and all those high tech stuff that I don’t know anything about. And then there are also cash prizes for the students. And then the winning school gets a thousand dollars, runner up gets seven-fifty and third place gets five hundred and other gifts. Each student gets a gift bag with all kinds of goodies in it and a participation certificate. And of course the top two students get an opportunity to represent the Belize District in the nationals.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
