Nigeria will join Ghana to compete in the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee in the United States of America to test students’ spelling and vocabulary potential.
For nearly 20 years, Ghana has been the sole African representative at the competition.
The competition is organised by the Young Educators Foundation, Ghana, in partnership with Lucid Education Initiative.
This was in a statement to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
Ms Eugenia Tachie-Menson, Chief Executive Officer of Young Educators Foundation, said the collaboration aimed to ignite a passion for spelling and literacy among Nigerian youth.
‘We aim to equip students with the skills to use words as powerful as communication tools from an early age.
‘We are elated that Nigeria will be joining Ghana in May of 2025 as the second African country in the global competition,’ she said.
She said the National Spelling Bee, in Ghana, had reignited a national discourse about the importance of literacy and spelling correctly, whilst birthing many stu
dent-centred programmes in mainstream media.
‘We are certain that the benefits Ghanaian students have accrued from participating in this programme for nearly 2 decades, will cascade on to Nigerian students as well,’ she said.
Nigeria’s participation will shine a spotlight on the importance of literacy and spelling education among young students, particularly in Lagos and Abuja, where the initiative is currently focused.
‘This programme offers a platform for Nigerian youth to showcase their literacy prowess on a global stage, changing the rather tired and erroneous narrative the African child only hungers for food.’ Afolajimi Akinyoyenu, CEO of Lucid Education Initiative, said.
The Competition is set to revolutionise Nigeria’s education scene, inspiring young minds to achieve linguistic excellence on the global stage.
It is a thrilling mental challenge, with spellers having just 75 seconds to ask questions and 90 seconds to spell each word.
In the 2024 edition, approximately 245 national competitors from
across all 50 U.S. states, and other territories like Guam and Puerto Rico, and Department of Defense Schools in Europe.
International participants hail from Ghana, the Bahamas, and Canada.
Ghana finished off as Semi Finalists in this year’s competition
Source: Ghana News Agency