Boet Jegels Primary School has proved it has what it takes — its pupils have won the 15th Phendulani Literary Quiz held at Grey Junior School.
Seven primary schools took part in the quiz on Tuesday.
The 66 participants taking part in 2026 were divided into 11 teams, made up of six pupils each.
Arcadia came second and Sanctor came third.
The aim of Phendulani is to promote reading and comprehension in a fun way, while also making sure books that have been donated are read.
The entertaining quiz is thoroughly enjoyed by all, as attested to in the feedback forms which the children complete each year.
Many SA schools with well-stocked libraries have taken part in the international Kids’ Lit Quiz for more than a decade, with Nelson Mandela Bay schools having participated since 2006.
It was felt that an outreach quiz along similar lines should be extended to schools that did not have libraries of their own, and so Phendulani was born.
In March, a set of 12 books was provided to each of the participating schools.
The books are sourced by Marj Brown, the mastermind of the quiz, and a school librarian.
Each school enters up to two teams of six grade 6 or 7 pupils, who are required to read as many of these books as possible.
The quiz has four rounds of questions, with each round consisting of 10 questions.
Each team works on the questions together, writing down the answers, which are then marked.
The Eastern Cape region’s quiz is a collaborative effort, co-ordinated by Grey Junior School librarian Michéle Kerley.
The school librarians from St George’s, Grey, Collegiate, Clarendon, Kabega and Malabar as well as the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipal Library Services, support the schools taking part by providing transport to the quiz, lunch packs for the children and prizes for the winners, as well as making sure every participant goes home with a book of their own.
Grey Junior headmaster Grant Butler was the quiz master.
The top three winning schools walked away with prizes from Woolworths Beauty and shopping vouchers.
The Herald
