Sixteen pupils of the KNUST Basic School beat their mates in the maiden edition of the school’s annual Spelling Bee competition.

The competition witnessed 14 students representing their class, from kindergarten to junior high school.

The students took turns behind the microphone to munch words from both English and other language origins.

The exercise follows an annual debate amongst students in the school to augment their public speaking skills.

Headmistress, Reverend Irene Nkansah, said the exercise is to hone the reading and public speaking skills of pupils.

According to her, some parents are happy their wards stay glued to the news to know more about trendy matters both locally and internationally.

“Spelling Bee is gradually going down. So, management tried to bring this up so that we improve the reading and spelling skills of students, and ultimately their command over English.

“The children are learning a lot. It’s teaching them how to speak in public and read well, too. It’s also making them learn a lot to know what to expect in the quizzes and spelling bee.

“Some parents say their children now watch the news to know what is happening around the world, so they will be able to answer questions during the competitions,” she said.

Rev. Nkansah attests that the annual debate and spelling bee has brought about a productive and healthy competition amongst teachers and students.

“It’s also bringing a competition between our classes and teachers, too. The teachers are trying to work hard, so they would want their students to win these competitions,” she said.

Emmanuel Boateng Akowuah and Felix Baffour Addo represented their class, basic 5E.

They shared how they strategically won the competition over their peers.

Emmanuel says “whenever either of us couldn’t spell a word, we would deliberate and come out with the right spelling of the word”.

Felix was overjoyed about clinching the title for the second time.

Winners of other classes include: Kindergarten 2 – Issah Vie Hiti Farham and Owusu-Anane Kwadwo Effah; Basic 4 – Christabel Adwoa Kweonorki Glover and Salma Osaah Latif.