SINGAPORE – An inter-school competition that tests participants on their Chinese language skills will be held online for the first time in its seven-year history.

The National Chinese Challenge 2020 is open to both primary and secondary school students. There will be an online assessment in the preliminary round and those who do well will help their schools enter the game show finals, which will be livestreamed.

Jointly organised by Singapore Press Holdings’ (SPH) Chinese Media Group and Nanyang Girls’ High School, organisers said last Friday (June 5) that the challenge aims to create an opportunity for students to gain a deeper understanding of the Chinese language and culture, as well as allow participants to compete in a friendly and fun environment.

The preliminary round will be held on July 10 for primary school pupils and July 11 for secondary school students.

The round consists of an online assessment that participants can complete from home or in school. It will be hosted on the online education platform, ULearning, jointly developed by strategic partner Huawei Cloud.

The game show finals will be livestreamed on Aug 15 on various digital platforms including the Lianhe Zaobao website, zbCOMMA’s Facebook page, ZBSchools and SPH’s #StayHome website.

The finals will be contested by each category’s top four schools from the preliminary round. They will answer questions on entertainment, history, and international affairs, as well as take part in a new segment that tests their creativity and ability to improvise.

Viewers will be able to vote, with 50 points awarded to the performance with the most votes.

Students can register for the challenge until June 19 through their schools or visit this website for more information.

Managing editor of SPH Chinese Media Group Loh Woon Yen said: “We hope the National Chinese Challenge will spur interest amongst students to learn the Chinese language and better appreciate the richness of the culture.

“Whilst we are unable to gather en masse for the competition due to Covid-19, this has motivated the team to rethink the format of this event to adapt to the current situation. With the competition going online, we hope to attract more students’ participation and that they will find this format refreshing and exciting.”

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