Jutha Gupah, Maiduguri
The Galtamari Secondary School has emerged the winner of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spelling bee championship in Borno state.
According to the UN agency, the spelling bee annual competition was to improve “literacy and numeracy” among the children between the age of seven and 14 in primary schools.
Announcing the spelling winner, yesterday (Wednesday), in Maiduguri, the UNICEF’s programme manager, restoration of hope initiative (ROHI), Benjamin John disclosed that; “Government Secondary School, Galtimari scored 130 points, while Borno Special School (BSS) emerged second position with 115 marks in the concluded spelling bee championship held at Pinnacle Hotel, Maiduguri.”
He said that 16 schools participated in the spelling bee competition with two schools emerging the two finalists to spell 70 words correctly.
“Each word has 10 points with a bonus of five marks for spelling the words correctly at the championship to mark International Day of Education,” he said.
Besides, he added: “Out of the 70 words, including anonymousness, treacle, Rhinocerous and dis-enfranchisement, only 25 were spelt correctly in the spelling championship of two schools.”
He noted that even though Galtimari emerges the spelling champion with 130 points, the participants cannot correctly spell 45 words or 64 per cent of the total 70 words.
“The pupils find it difficult to spell the words including aerostatics, raspberry, deteriorative and anthropomorphic among others,” he lamented.
Chairman of State’s Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), represented by the permanent commissioner of boar, Alhaji Sadiq Abdullahi, said that development could not take place without education.
According to him, education has improved the provision of shelter and transportation systems with modern technology.
He, therefore, urged the children not to relent in their educational pursuits to secure their future in the state.
