North selects Atem reps for April finale
Association for the Teaching of English in Malawi (Atem) has selected three schools in the Northern Region to represent the region at the national finals in April.
The schools—Katoto Secondary School, Mzuzu Government Secondary School and Ekwendeni Girls Secondary School—were the top best schools in drama after outshining the other three participants over the weekend.
The association champions drama competitions to improve the speaking of English.
Atem chairperson for the Northern Region, Modester Makowa-Banda, said the schools have shown a lot of improvement in creativity and acting skills.
She, however, said the challenge has been lack of sponsorship which has resulted into low participation by the schools.
“A lot of schools expressed interest to participate, but very few competed. The challenge is that they could not manage to raise funds to travel from as far as Chitipa or Karonga for the competition. We need the corporate world to move in with sponsorship,” she said.
Chief judge Nicholas Msowoya observed that most of the actors and actresses showed a lot of potential in acting and English speaking.
He, however, said most of the plays lacked basic elements of drama such as conflict and suspense, thereby making the plays predictable.
“Conflict is the chief element of drama. Conflict glues the audience to the play. Without conflict, the play becomes predictable. Most of the participants need to strengthen their plays in that aspect.
