Chantal Sarah Kataike, a 12-year-old pupil at Tororo Parents’ primary school, had never in her life imagined that she would travel outside Uganda.
In fact the closest she ever got to this dream was visiting Entebbe airport during a school trip. Although she was excited to see airplanes, the little girl from Nyangole in Tororo did not know she would soon board one.
Kataike’s fate changed last year when she enrolled into a spelling competition, which saw her and two other pupils, Leticia Namwadiko and Livingstone Kibumba, emerge the best three. Their English teacher informed them that they would take part in regional competitions in which they also emerged victorious.
The winning team then moved onto the national competitions held in Kampala and organized by Enjuba, a local social company. This contest, they also won. The trio is now preparing to represent Uganda in this year’s African Spelling Bee in Johannesburg in July.
“I will be the first person in my family to step out of East Africa; so, I am very excited. The chances of me getting a scholarship to Monarch University in South Africa are even more exciting,” Kataike says.
Three other pupils will later join Kataike and her friends. That is thanks to another Spelling Bee competition organized by Enjuba in partnership with Dstv.
According to Aaron Kirunda, the chief executive officer of Enjuba, this year’s competition will see 600 schools in all regions of Uganda, conducting Spelling Bees in English, and sign language for P4 to P7 pupils; and in Runyakore-Rukiga, Runyoro-Rutooro, Lusoga, acholi, lugbara, lango, Japadhola, Rukonzo and Ateso for children in P3 in line with the thematic curriculum.
“With more than 50 per cent of our population being children under the age of 15, we believe the future belongs to these young stars and it’s our responsibility to help them become the best they can ever be. Innovations like these help unlock children’s imagination, develop key life skills and also helps them stay in school,” Kirunda said at the launch of the competition held on May 17th at the MultiChoice offices in Kololo.
He also said that unlike past editions where pupils have been given handbooks with words that are likely to be asked during the national competitions, this year’s participants will be given books to read.
“Children will have to read the books and internalize them; so, they will not be able to cram words. It is now about understanding word usage and meanings rather than just their spellings,” Kirunda said.
HOW IT WORKS
The format for this year’s competition will start in schools across the country in second term, where every registered school will conduct a school Spelling Bee competition.
This will be followed by district and regional spelling bee competitions that will take place towards the end of second term and beginning of third term. The national spelling bee championship will take place in October in Kampala.
The winners will take home a cash prize of Shs 1m, to help with the next term’s school fees. In addition, they will also represent Uganda at the next continental African spelling bee.
The spelling bee commences on July 2 with the following schools in Kampala hosting school spelling days; Kampala Parents school, City Parents school, Hillside nursery and primary School, Victorious primary School. In Mukono, Budo Junior school, Greenhill Academy, Tawhid primary school and Lorencia junior school will be the hosts.
jjmirembe@gmail.com