Niger Delta: 50 Schools Participate In 2026 Education Champions League

A total of 50 public and private secondary schools from across the Niger Delta  region have participated in the first-round of the 2026 Education Champions League (ECL) competition.

The ECL is an annual academic tournament designed to promote literacy, critical thinking and reading culture among secondary school students.

The competition, which is primarily hosted in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, featured rigorous quiz and debate segments based on selected literature, with schools competing for multimillion-naira prize purses.

A statement from ECL website indicated that schools that performed well in the first-round will compete in the semi-final stage and later at the quarter final stage of the completion.

The statement said the best four schools from the quarter finals will participate in the finals of the competition, which will hold on Saturday, June 27, 2026.

It stated that at the first qualifying stage, students demonstrated remarkable focus and intellectual agility as they tackled a series of challenging questions designed to assess speed, accuracy, and depth of knowledge.

ECL commended Royalcourt Private School for being the early frontrunner with an impressive average score of 57.5, closely followed by Brainforte High School and Government Comprehensive Secondary School.

It stated that the tight clustering of scores among the top contenders signals a highly competitive season ahead.

The four schools that will emerge victorious after the quarter finals stage of the exercise, will be competing for three different awards; the O.B Lulu Briggs , Claude Ake and Boma Erekosima awards while the prizes on offer are N10 million for the champion, N5 million for the runner-up, and N2.5 million for the third place winner.