We are glad to announce that as of today we have 124 schools with almost 3500 participants registered for BCWC 2014. As the deadline for registration is December 20, most probably we will beat our last year’s record. We will send an email to all schools confirming their registration by December 20.
This year we got a few inquiries from private schools regarding their participation in the competition. So far they were not eligible to participate due to the fact that the curriculum in the private schools provides more English classes per week than the one in the regular municipality and state schools. Thus, private school students are at an advantage in terms of opportunities to study the language, which often discourages other institutions from entering.
At the same time, we realize that the students at private schools would also benefit from participation in different competitions together with other students. In this regard, we are willing to take steps towards opening the competition to everyone from next year onward.
Unfortunately, we cannot change the rules this year, but what we can offer is to accept private schools students’ essays independently of ranking. Our judges will read them (and select some essays of distinction, with certificates of merit for any top essays selected) but they will not advance further to the national level of competition.
Private schools willing to participate independently of ranking are welcome to register by December 20th.
