What’s The News? Quiz competition by ST kicks off with live event at St Gabriel’s Secondary School
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Quiz host Rishi Budhrani interacting with students participating in the preliminary round of The Straits Times’ quiz competition What’s The News, at St Gabriel’s Secondary School, on April 15.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
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SINGAPORE – On the morning of April 15, Julien Fok found himself racking his brain to remember volcano names as he worked his way through an online quiz.
The 15-year-old student of St Gabriel’s Secondary School said: “I’m interested mainly in politics, so I found some of the (non-political) questions quite challenging.”
Still, the Secondary 3 student scored 21 out of 30, surprising himself. “I went through the social media channels of many different local and international outlets to prepare for the quiz,” he said.
“I’m quite satisfied with the result, but it’s definitely made me want to go home and read up on other types of news.”
Julien is taking part in the current affairs quiz competition What’s The News? organised by The Straits Times, which kicked off on April 15 with a live event at St Gabriel’s Secondary School.
The competition is open to students aged 15 to 19, and more than 6,000 have registered, representing 50 secondary schools, junior colleges and the Institute of Technical Education.
The preliminary round tests students on their knowledge of news and current affairs via a 30-question online quiz that must be completed within 30 minutes.
The questions cover topics as wide-ranging as world leaders’ reactions to US President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs, the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year, and K-pop band Stray Kids’ historic sixth album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Participating students said that they found the quiz entertaining and engaging.
St Gabriel’s Secondary School student Tatva Jain, 16, said: “It was quite exciting to test myself on my current affairs knowledge, and I was able to learn more by reading articles (related to the questions) after the quiz.
“I think having the competitive element, where I could compare my score with those of my friends, was also quite fun.”
Tatva added that he was pleasantly surprised by the amount of knowledge he had retained while reading the news, such as unexpectedly remembering the name of a rare snake that was rediscovered in Singapore after 64 years.
Mr Shawn Lim, principal of St Gabriel’s Secondary School, said: “The students enjoyed the quiz and participated actively in it. Through their participation, we observe their diverse interest in current affairs issues.
“This competition serves as a good impetus for our students to read more widely and expand their knowledge by giving them a goal to work towards.”
ST editor Jaime Ho said: “We’re doing all we can to bring the relevance of the news to everyone in our community, and today was an opportunity to bring it to our schools and students.
The Straits Times editor Jaime Ho interacting with students participating in the first session of the preliminary round of The Straits Times’ quiz game show, What’s The News, at St Gabriel’s Secondary School on April 15.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
“Through a mix of news content, gamification and healthy competition, we hope the boys at St Gabriel’s found the first run of the quiz useful in broadening their horizons in current affairs. At the very least, we hope they had fun!”
Prior to the quiz, stand-up comedian Rishi Budhrani engaged the boys at St Gabriel’s Secondary School, where he got students thinking about current affairs and talking about contemporary issues.
Participating students said they found the quiz entertaining and engaging.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
He will also host the other four live events in the preliminary round – at Loyang View Secondary School on April 16, Nanyang Junior College on April 23, Pasir Ris Secondary School on April 24 and Naval Base Secondary School on April 25.
The competition is organised by ST as part of its 180th anniversary outreach, and is supported by the Ministry of Education. The Central Narcotics Bureau is a partner.
At the end of the preliminary round, the 16 schools with the best scores will compete in the semi-final in May, which will involve arena-style team games based on current affairs questions. Each school must send six students to participate.
The quiz, called What’s The News?, is organised by ST as part of its 180th anniversary outreach, and is supported by the Ministry of Education.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
The four best-performing teams from the semi-final will then participate in a stage game show, with the school in first place walking away with a $4,000 cash prize.
The schools that finish second, third and fourth will win $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively.
Scores in the preliminary round will be tabulated based on accuracy and the amount of time taken to complete the questions. Each school can send as many participants as it wants, with a minimum of 40 per school.
As part of What’s The News?, a travelling exhibition that explores themes like fake news and media literacy will also be held at schools and public spaces from April to June.
Participating schools will be given the results of the preliminary round and informed of the top-scoring 16 schools by e-mail on May 6.
