13 year-old girl, Afua Ansaa Manukure from the Ridge Church School, an international school located in Accra, has emerged winner of the 9th edition of the Spelling Bee national finals on Saturday 6th February 2016 and will be representing Ghana at the 89th Scripps National Spelling Bee in USA.
The
Spelling Bee competition is a literacy programme for primary children
between 8 to 13 years with the objective of teaching students the proper
and effective use of the English Language.
Ghana
has been the only African country which participated at the global
level but the coordinators of the Spelling Bee have revealed plans to
extend to Nigeria, Namibia and Kenya in subsequent years.
According Mrs. Eugenia Tachie-Menson, the Country Director of Young Education Foundation (YEF), the 10th
edition of the competition will come with modification in organization
and preparation to improve the performance of the students.
Mrs.
Eugenia also mentioned that YEF has commenced with organization of the
competition in Nigeria and is looking forward to see a race between
Ghana and Nigeria in the upcoming edition of the Spelling Bee.
The
Spelling Bee has been classified as a non-academic exercise which is
not examinable but Mrs. Tachie-Menson states that spelling has been
proven to develop the intellectual abilities of children as they learn
through fun activities.
Hence
there have been rejections from some heads of schools and parents
usually bordering on the argument that the Spelling Bee is not an
academic exercise. Some even opine that it is not on its own an
examinable subject by WAEC.
She
cited Ghana’s educational structure and the media as the major
challenge facing the course of YEF adding that reporters always ignore
using new words in writing articles which is mostly read by parents and
students.
She
therefore encouraged parents and schools to involve their children in
the competition as its aim is to teach them how to think critically.
“The
10th edition will definitely be a special one and we are presently in
Nigeria running the same completion so we are hoping for a Ghana/Nigeria
spell off. Our major problem is the educational structure which doesn’t
encourage student to think critically because the student has to do
what is being thought by the teacher and also the media is not
publishing new words for kids to learn”, said Mrs. Eugenia.
Vishal
Thakwani of the Delhi Public School International (DPSI), a world class
international school in Tema, who won the 8th edition of the
competition was unfortunately knocked out in the final rounds of the
race.
Vishal
Thakwani who was ranked the 50th best speller globally out of over 11
million pupils worldwide said he is honored for the opportunity and
really appreciate the support by Ghanaians during his race against
world.
Speaking
to the press, Mss Afua Ansaa Manukure, winner of 9th edition Spelling
Bee national finals, expressed gratitude to God almighty for a dream
come through adding that it was beyond her expectations.
Mss. Afua said this year’s contest was very challenging as other
speller-brity gave her a tougher race but was able to stand out due to
learning of more root words.
“I’m
feeling extremely happy now and tremendously grateful to God for
bringing me this far. I think what made it for me was my knowledge of
root words which are the building blocks of words that comes together to
form a word and that really help me”. Afua uttered.
She received a gold medal, Certificate, products from Indomie, Club
Muscatella, and Voltic, and a cash prize of $500 from Indomie.
The
first runner-up, Lord Awingor Mba, student of Mary’s Child School, also
received silver medal, products from Indomie, Club Muscatella, and
Voltic, a certificate and an Ecobank Junior Saver Account.
The
second runner-up, Emil Abagery, student of University of Cape Coast
Primary was presented with a bronze medal, products from Indomie, Club
Muscatella, and Voltic, a certificate and an Ecobank Junior Saver
Account.
source: ameyawdebrah.com
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