ZoomLion introduces quiz competition on sanitation
Waste management company, ZoomLion Ghana Limited, has introduced a series of quiz competitions it calls ZoomQuiz for its Zoomkids Clubs in basic schools across the country, in a bid to reach out to school children with basic sanitation and hygiene messages.
According to the company, the quiz forms part of the activities for its Sanitation Awareness Month, which runs from November 14 to December 17.
Briefing the media during a Regional competition held at GNAT Hall in the Sekondi Takoradi metropolis last weekend, Mr. Robert Kwaku Adjei, National Environmental Sanitation Coordinator for ZoomLion Ghana Limited, stated that “the Zoomkids Programme is based on the premise that children are far more receptive to new ideas than adults, and that children as future role models can be powerful advocates and agents of positive change and will grow to become parents.”
Mr. Adjei stated that focusing attention on schoolchildren has several advantages, such as knowledge transfer through passing on to their peers, households, community members and to their own children and grandchildren in the future, what they learn.
“We are therefore catching them young. Personal hygiene practices are usually acquired during childhood – it is much easier to change the habits of children than those of adults. The promotion of hygiene in basic schools can help children to adopt the needed habits during the formative years of their childhood,” he said.
According to the Coordinator, the ZoomQuiz competitions were introduced to test the knowledge level of the Zoomkids Club members in basic environmental sanitation and hygiene, as the clubs were periodically given hygiene messages, to prepare them to become powerful advocates in sanitation and hygiene promotion, and agents of change in their schools and communities.
Mr. Adjei charged the participating clubs to take the ZoomQuiz competition serious, as it was preparing them for a national one that would be held in Kumasi as part of activities to climax the National Environmental Sanitation Conference (NESCON) in December 2011.
He further disclosed that the ZoomQuiz programme, was being carried out in five regions – Eastern, Western, Ashanti, Volta and Northern regions, saying at the regional level, the school that would win the competition would be given a branded golden trophy.
Other prizes include 240 litre bins for all participating schools, a set of educational materials and certificates of participation for all contestants.
The wining school at the national level in December would also be given a branded golden trophy which should be submitted for defence each year, a new flat screen computer and printer and a 240 litre bin for storage of their refuse.
Other prizes include a computer and 240 litre bin for the first runner-up, a branded silver trophy and 240 litre bin for second runner-up, and two pieces of 240 litre bins for the last school. Also, all the contestants at the national level would be given a set of books and certificates of participation.
Asare Oppong Educational Complex emerged the winner in the Western Region, beating the Second Runner-up, Peter Pipers International School, with only 0.5 point.
By Edmund Smith-Asante