Jacaranda School for Orphans Secondary School from Chigumula in Blantyre on Saturday came out top in the 33rd edition of the French Schools Drama Festival grand finale held at Likuni Boys Secondary School in Lilongwe.
The school won the hearts of the judges, which included award-winning filmmaker and actress Joyce Mhango Chavula, to outclass six other finalists and claim the top spot with their production titled Mwayi.
And as if this was not enough, Jacaranda also produced individual awards which included Best Actor which went to Munaf Ibrahim, who received a medal and a bicycle, Best French Speaker Female (Sandra Chilimani), who received a medal and a bicycle, and Best Supporting Actor (Wisdom Mikuwa), who went away with a French dictionary and medal.
Chilimani claimed the Best French Speaker Female accolade barely a month after she came top in the French Singing contest.
The school’s French teacher Melody Phiri could not hide her excitement with the success.
“It was a tough contest but we thank God that, at the end, we made it. The students worked hard as since they made it through during the regional finals, they had been rehearsing,” Phiri said.
Mary Mount Girls from Mzuzu failed to defend the championship which they won in 2020 and only settled for the second position whereas the hosts, Likuni Boys, which also produced Best French Speaker Male in Moses Nyirenda, came third.
The top three schools received trophies and medals.
The other finalists were Kaseye Girls from Chitipa, which came fourth and produced Best Actress in Tamanda Mkhaya, Zomba Catholic (fifth), Marist Secondary School (sixth) and Robert Blake (seventh).
French Embassy Counsellor for Cooperation and Cultural Action Ludovic Cocogne, who came from the French Embassy in South Africa, said he was impressed with the performances of the schools.
“Wonderful performances from the schools and I enjoyed the performances although I came in a bit late.
“The students were fluent in French using drama and we can see the fruits of the programmes we are doing, including training of teachers, and we will continue to do that and we will look at several other opportunities,” Cocogne said.
The French Schools Drama Festival is headed by Jacaranda Foundation in partnership with French Embassy run under the theme La Lute Contre La Pauvrete (The Fight Against Poverty).
In another development, Association for the Teaching of English in Malawi (Atem) has finalised the divisional finals in South West Education Division (Swed) ahead of its national final to be held in Lilongwe next term.
Chichiri Secondary School came out top during the two-day Swed divisional final held at Zingwangwa and Soche Hill secondary schools on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Chimwankhunda and Soche Hill came second and third, respectively.
The three are through to the national final, which will bring on board 18 finalists.
