Atem shifts grand finale to March 21
Association of Teaching of English in Malawi (Atem) has shifted the 2020 grand finale which was expected to be held on March 7 to March 21 2020.
Atem Interim President, Dave Mpaso, confirmed the development yesterday, saying they shifted to March 21 2020 because schools would be going for mid-term holidays shortly.
“We would like to apologise for this change but we had no choice. Schools would be going on mid-term holiday so we could not have gone ahead. Again, we have the French Schools Drama Festival on March 14 2020 so we wanted to give our colleagues a chance and that led us to settle for March 21 2020,” Mpaso said.
He said they were ready for the grand finale to be held at a venue to be announced later in Lilongwe having finished the regional finals with the last for the Central Region held at Mbizi Secondary School in Lilongwe last Saturday.
“After being on a two-year break we are happy to be back. Of course there have been shortfalls but we will rectify them come the next academic year but for now we are looking forward to the grand finale. We want to continue making calls out there for well-wishers, the government and corporate world to assist us ahead of the grand finale, we need prizes for the winner and individuals as part of motivation,” Mpaso said.
With the Northern and Southern regions already done with the regional finals on February 15, last Saturday was the chance of the Central Region to select its three representatives.
At the end of the contest which att r a c ted eight secondary schools, Mlodza came first followed by Zipatso on second whereas Likuni Boys came third.
The three schools have made it to the national final joining Nkhata Bay Secondary School, St John Bosco and Katoto, who made it from the Northern Region and St Patricks, St Monica Girls and St Paul Minor Seminary from the Southern Region.
In the individual awards in the Central Region contest, Gladys Phiri from Chipasula which came fifth claimed the Best English Speaker Award whereas the Best Actor Award went to Blessings Kauseni from Zipatso Academy. The Best Actress Award went to Hilda Tonthowa from Darlo Girls, which came fourth.
The regional finals in the Central Region were supposed to take place on February 15 2020 but were shifted to last Saturday after some schools queried divisional finals results.
