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.
