Sbec International emerges winner of spelling competition

(Issue, Tuesday 31st March 2015)
Sbec International Lower Basic School has emerged champions of the spelling competition in which 30 lower basic schools within the West Coast Region participated.

The competition was organised by Take-M Transformation Organisation, a young foundation out to support education through spelling competition for students in the lower basic schools across the country.

The competition started in 2014 with 152 students from 30 lower basic schools in the West Coast Region. The contestants were successively dropped until it was left with 30 students who qualified for the finals.

During the finals, hosted by St-Peter’s Senior Secondary School in Lamin, Sbec International Lower Basic, which had the youngest participant – a 9 year old, won the first prize while the second one went to St Peter’s Lower Basic School.

The coordinator of Take-M Transformation Organisation, Tunde Muyi Ogundimu, said one of the main aims of the competition is to support primary school students to develop their knowledge in spelling.

“The reason for targeting the lower basic schools is because they are at the grassroots, where the foundation is built and developed before reaching the high level,” he said, adding: “That is why our focus is on the young ones.”

Mr Ogundimu said the next primary school spelling competition will be held in Upper River Region at the end of April 2015.

Similar competition will be held in all the regions of the country.  “After that, the winners in each region will come together at the national level and compete for a national championship,” he said.

Malang Kuyateh, senior education officer, West Coast Region, in his statement, said such competition will go a long way in helping the young ones to improve their learning skills in school as spelling is the backbone of successful academic performance.

He applauded Take-M Organisation for coming up with such a “brilliant initiative” while calling on others to emulate them.

Mrs Binta Sonko, a teacher at Sbec International, expressed gratitude and satisfaction for her school’s success in the competition.

“This is another milestone for Sbec International Lower Basic School,” she said. 

The winner of the competition, Aisha Jagne, a 9-year-old, grade 6 student of Sbec International, said: “I am very happy today for winning such a champion.  We at Sbec International LBS will never give up and we will make sure that anywhere we participate we take the first prize.”

The teenager urged her friends who took part in the competition but were unlucky to win, not to give up.