Cousins take gold in spelling bee
Zameer Dada and Faizaan Ganiare were named the 2014 South African spelling bee champions during the Mzansi Spelling Bee national championship that was held in Soweto recently.
POLOKWANE – Zameer Dada and Faizaan Ganiare were named the 2014 South African spelling bee champions during the Mzansi Spelling Bee national championship that was held in Soweto recently.
Zameer and Faizaan are cousins who both attended Mitchell House Preparatory School last year. The two outspelt over 2 000 spellers from six provinces to win the challenge.
The Mzansi Spelling Bee is a national spelling challenge spanning six provinces with thousands of learners from private and public schools going head to head to outspell each other. This initiative is the brainchild of Ntsako Mkhabela, director of Miyela, a collective of people committed to the idea that the individual can change the world.
Mkhabela said she wanted to play her part in improving the level of literacy in the country and saw spelling bee challenge as the best initiative. “More importantly we need to inculcate the culture of reading at a young age. Reading expands knowledge and opens the minds to ideas and creativity. I hope that spelling competitions will encourage reading,” Mkhabela said.
One of the projects Miyela is involved in entails graduates assisting high school learners as tutors. This graduate group decided to start a spelling competition, Spelling Bee SA, to encourage reading and increase the level of literacy in the country.
Mkhabela added that the group was worried when the Annual National Assessment (ASA) results came out last year. Last year’s ANA showed that gr. 3 numeracy rates had declined from 35% to 28% and literacy rates had declined from 36% to 35%. “That means only one in three children in gr. 3 can read at the level required at that age,” she said.
Last year, the spelling bee started at schools, libraries, small towns and cities all over the country. In December the top spellers from each province competed against each other at the Soweto Theatre to be named the annual champions.
Zameer, who has since relocated to Johannesburg and now attends St Johns College, is the 2014 Mzansi Spelling Bee South African senior champion for spellers aged 12 to 14 years. In 2013 Zameer finished third in the national junior class finals.
Faizaan and Reagile Rapoo from Rustenburg clashed in the final round and after a chain of words spelt by both boys with ease, the judges called a tie. Both boys are the joint 2014 Mzansi Spelling Bee South African junior champions for spellers aged 9 to 11 years.
They will defend their titles this year during the 2015 Mzansi Spelling Bee national championship.
