25 WCR students secure place to national spelling bee championship

Twenty-five students from schools in the West Coast Region (WCR) have secured places in the final of this year’s TAKE-M Transformation Organisation national spelling bee championship to be held at QCity.

The theme for the championship is promoting the importance of education in reading, comprehension, writing and spelling.

Fifty students from 45 schools participated in the region 2 championship held at St. Peter’s junior and senior secondary technical school over the weekend.

Malang N. Kuyateh, senior education officer of Region 2 described the spelling bee as very important, saying it is complementing MoBSE’s efforts in trying to bring back quality into education.

Mr Kuyateh added that the competition will also help students understand and develop the culture of reading. He also highlighted the importance of parents supporting the program as the government cannot do it all by itself.

He went on to call on the head of schools to allow their students participate in the spelling bee to bring back the culture of reading and spelling into the system.

He noted that it is disheartening that some grade 12 graduates cannot write a letter due to the lack of reading culture.

Tunde Muyi Ogundimu, TAKE-M Transformation Organisation chief executive officer called on parents to invest in their children’s education particularly the girl child to ensure they become whatever they want in life.

He pointed out that the organisation focuses on bringing out the best in children with the spelling bee competitions, and therefore called on education lovers to take ownership of the initiative and invest in education. He thanked everyone who has been there for them. 

Dominic Gomez, deputy head teacher St. Peter’s said education without competition one cannot reach their standard.

He observed that bringing students from different schools to compete is very important, adding that as teachers it is important that they are able to expose their students to the highest level.

He however expressed disappointment that some parents feels that the education of their children entirely depend on schools, saying parents have a bigger chink to do and it is important students have their parents around when they compete in such competitions.

“The absence of parents means they do not know the value of their children competing in the championship,” he said.

Mariatou Jarjue, a parent, highlighted the importance of parents attending the children’s competitions and activities as well as checking on them at school to monitor their progress, saying psychologically it motivates them to want to do better.

“If parents do not support or attend their children’s activities it makes them feel unwanted and unvalued”, she pointed out. Therefore encouraging parents particularly mothers to make more time for their children’s education as it is not only about house work.