Ranchi: The stage is set for a district-wide hunt for Ranchi’s best young speakers, with students from 2,100 govt schools set to compete for the title of ‘District RanchiSpeaks Champion’.The contest, being organised to mark two years of the district administration’s RanchiSpeaks initiative, will be held on Oct 12 and 13. It aims to promote oral expression, language skills and public speaking among primary and upper primary students.District superintendent of education Badal Raj said the programme had brought “positive changes and excellent results” in children over the past two years. “To celebrate this success, amplify the voice of children and recognise their talent, a district-level competition is being organised,” he said.The competition will be conducted in four stages. School-level rounds are currently under way, followed by cluster-level contests from Sept 22 to 26 and block-level qualifiers from Sept 28 to Oct 1. The top performers will compete in the district finals in Oct.Participants will be divided into two categories — Category 1 for classes 1 to 5 and Category 2 for classes 6 to 8. Each contestant will have to deliver a speech of up to three minutes on any topic assigned under the RanchiSpeaks programme during the past two years.Students can speak in Hindi, English, a regional language or their mother tongue. Their performance will be assessed on a 25-mark rubric covering understanding of the topic, pronunciation, pitch and modulation, confidence and body language, creativity and time management.Raj said one ‘Star Speaker of RanchiSpeaks’ would be identified and honoured from each school. Standard operating procedures have been issued to nodal teachers, coordinators and block officials to ensure transparency.Under the initiative, students receive two topics every fortnight for preparation and presentation. “Continuous practice has improved their confidence, pronunciation, presentation style and language knowledge,” Raj said.For Holika Kumari, a student from a govt school in Rahe, RanchiSpeaks helped her “speak without fear” and discover her hidden talent for public speaking.
