Six to represent Brong Ahafo in National Spelling Bee finals
Six pupils will represent the Brong Ahafo Region at the National Spelling Bee Competition slated for February 2014 in Accra.
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Those who will represent the region in the national event next year are Agnes Abena Yeboah of Nana Kofi Abiriw Basic School, Kenyasi Number One; Dorothy Gyamfi of Kwakyekrom D/A Basic School and Emmanuel Addo, both of St Lawrence Basic School, Ntotroso.
The rest are Joseph Opoku, Methodist Primary School, Duayaw Nkwanta; Martin Anyim of Tanoso R/C Primary School; and Aishetu Abudu of the Islamic Primary School at Yamfo.
The competition is being organised by the Young Educators Foundation (YEF) in collaboration with Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (Ahafo Mine) and the Ghana Education Service.
Speaking at the Brong Ahafo Regional competition, the External Affairs Manager of Newmont Ghana (Ahafo Mine), Kojo Bedu-Addo, stated that Newmont’s decision to support pupils in the mine’s host communities is in line with the company’s value of “Developing our people in pursuit of excellence.”
“We believe that by encouraging and assisting them to partake in programmes of this nature, they will be exposed to the correct use of the English Language,” he said.
He added that Newmont made a three-year commitment of $35,000 each year to sponsor the pupils in the mine’s host communities. “So far, Newmont has spent $105,000 over the last three years to prepare students, provide logistics and also train coaches toward the competition at both regional and national levels,” he said.
Mr Bedu-Addo hoped that through the Spelling Bee competition, participants would not only gain the direct benefits of an improvement in the English vocabulary, spelling and reading but the competitive spirit of the programme would also build their confidence in public speaking.
“I am proud to announce that we have had considerable improvements in the performance of pupils from the Brong Ahafo Region over the last three years. Last year, we had two of our sponsored contestants emerged among the top 16 best spellers in the entire country. These were students from public schools from our host communities and we are very proud of them,” he added.
Mr Bedu-Addo said as Newmont Ghana’s three-year commitment elapses this year, the company was already working with the Ghana Education Service and the various Sustainable Development Committees of Newmont Ahafo Development Foundation (NADeF) to ensure continued support and sustainability for the programme.
The programme’s Coordinator of Young Educators Foundation, Abena Anim-Agyei, lauded Newmont and the contestants for putting up an impressive show at the event.
The School and Community Bee events were held for 51 schools, out of which 23 pupils from Tano North and 22 from Asutifi North districts emerged best spellers to take part in the regional competition.
The Spelling Bee is the local version of the internationally acclaimed Scripps Spelling Bee. Now in its sixth year in Ghana, the competition is aimed at teaching pupils the correct pronunciation and use of the English language. It is also a platform to equip teachers with key approaches to the teaching of the English language.
Daily Graphic/Ghana