Nine Ghanaian kids to participate in international competition

Nine winners of the ‘Toyota Dream Car Art Contest’, held in Accra will participate in the international competition to be held in Japan later this year.

Out of about 100 participants, the nine children made up of the top three winners from each category: Children under eight years, those from eight to 11 and children from 12 to 15 years received electronic notebooks and laptops, bilingual computers, electronic tablets with downloaded learning applications and geological talking telescope.

In the category of children under eight years, Ayeyi Maame Esi Aidoo-Hagan, Mantram Saini and Houda Assafiri were the winners while Raj Muskesh Thakwani, Adrijaa Pal and Lily Seyram Degbe won in the eight to 11 years category.

Edmond Kwabena Agyei, Danielle Ofeibea Bruce-Tagoe and Enam Caleb Banini were the proud winners in the category of children from 12 to 15 years.

The winners were selected based on the message of the artist, the unique characteristics, the artistic skills of the child and how the art was exhibited.

The Toyota Dream Car Art contest is an initiative of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) which was started in 2004 and held annually with the intention of making children exhibit their artistic skills by designing their dream cars.

Mr. Takuya Kajiura, the Managing Director, Toyota Ghana, said since the inception of the contest, the TMC had received more than two million artworks from around the world and there has been increased patronage annually.

He said this year, the company received 982 artworks from all over Ghana, which was grouped into three categories and out of that number 100 was shortlisted.

He called on the children to continue to have flexible ideas and imagination not just for the contest but in their daily activities adding that “such training in childhood should work for you even when you grow”.

Madam Barbara Asher Ayisi, the Deputy Minister of Education-in-charge of Basic Education, said arts was an important tool for exploiting the creativity in children to dream big.

She said children education must not be concentrated only in the classroom environment alone.

The deputy minister said the government was committed to promoting quality education at the basic level and would continue to support initiatives like this.

“Government acknowledges the contribution and support of the company in promoting education in the country,” she added.

Madam Ayisi called on the company to extend the contest to other parts of the country to bring out the creativity in children for their academic development.

Some of the names for the dream cars the children drew were, Toyota Happy Car, Mobile Toy-Car Seller, Helicopter Van, Eco-friendly Car, Toyota Transformer, Fire Engine Truck and a Spider in Time.

Some of the participating schools include Merton International School, Delhi Public School, Al Rayan International School, Sunflower School, Crown Prince Academy and Morning star.

 

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