Kaodili Cares Foundation to Host Spelling Bee Contest for Port Harcourt Pupils

A non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Kaodili Cares Foundation, is set to organise the 11th edition of its annual Garden City Spelling Bee Competition (GCSBC) for primary school pupils in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The founder of Kaodili Cares Foundation and convener of GCSBC, Mrs Ifeoma Egbuonu, in a statement on Monday, announced that the four-day event will be held from May 14 to May 17 at the Garden City Amusement Park in the city of Port Harcourt.

Egbuonu, who noted that Kaodili Cares Foundation focuses on meeting the educational needs of underrepresented communities, encouraged interested schools, parents, and guardians to register their wards early enough for the competition to obtain the word bank and prepare them for a good outing.

“This is because fifty per cent of the competition words would be drawn from the word bank ─ and, as the competition progresses to the tougher stages, words outside the word bank would be administered to them,” she stated.

She further stated that the registration for the competition will be on till the first day of the competition, “so that pupils are perhaps confident enough to participate without practising with the word bank could be accommodated.”

According to her, in the statement, the categories for the competition are intermediate 1, for primary one and two pupils; intermediate 2, for primary three and four pupils; and the pre-teens category, for primary five and six pupils.

The statement reads that May 14, is for the intermediate 1 category; May 15, is for the intermediate 2 categories; and May 16, is for the pre-teen category.

The statement further reads that pupils who qualified from the three categories would attend the grand finale on May 17, and compete for the ultimate prize.

Egbuonu revealed that the GCSBC, which was initiated in 2014, is currently one of the best spelling competitions in the country, adding that the 11th edition of the spelling bee promises to be an improved version of the last edition.

“Parents, guardians, and schools whose wards had participated in previous editions of the competition likened the GCSBC to the United States Scripps Spelling Bee Competition. Drawing from their testimonies, GCSBC is not only audacious with the inclusion of educative content to spice up the event but also more ingenious and innovative with the introduction of transparent methods to get the undisputed winners of the various categories, thereby giving the competition more credibility,” Egbuonu added.

She further added that, given its love for excellence, the Garden City Competition cannot afford to lower its standards ─ that, rather, it would seek more inventive ways to get better.