By Ovat Abeng
A humanitarian organization , Joseph Onuorah Foundation (JOF), is organising the second edition of its spelling bee quiz competition for primary school pupils between the ages of 7-11 years in Orumba North and South Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The competition notice was contained in a statement signed and made available to Journalists in Awka on Wednesday by the founder, High Chief Joseph Onuorah.
He said the maiden edition of the competition was held in April 2024 with the vision of developing the vocabulary prowess of the pupils, harnessing the literacy interests and horning their spelling skills from a very young age.
At the 2024 edition, the overall winner was 10 years old Master Agina Graham; a basic 5 student of St. Anthony Nur/Pry School Nanka.
He went home with an aggregated cash prize of two hundred thousand naira.
According to the statement, the much awaited second season of the spelling bee competition shall feature pupils in the age range of 7-11 years old within private and public schools in Orumba North and Orumba south Local Government Area of Anambra state.
The qualifier phases shall be held on Thursday 22nd May, 2025 at Ndiowu Town hall, Enumgbom Ndiowu, for students of Orumba North Local Government Area and that of Orumba south LGA shall be held on 23rd May 2025 at Centenary hall, St. Luke Anglican church Isulo while the grand finale will take place by 10am on Friday, 30th May, 2025 at Ndiowu Town Hall, Enumgbom Ndiowu. Orumba North LGA.
According to him, the essence of the competition is to rebrand education and restore the passion whereby the primary school pupils would begin to have full grip of spellings, current affairs and know their vocabularies. Our desire is to catch them young. We want to inculcate the habit of spelling knowledge and searching of words in dictionaries to the younger generation of Orumba North and South Council Areas and the Anambra State at large.
“This will help bring knowledge in the classroom, keep our kids away from societal vices, with passion for learning not just on the surface, but also sharpen their general knowledge, improve their fluency, and help them to embrace their national values by understanding current affairs.
“Today, so many Nigeria students don’t know their ministers and state slogan. Students no longer have passion for spellings and have limited knowledge of current affairs because of advent and penetration of electronic devices and social media which may drive intellectual docility.
”That intellectual stimulation at a be try tender age is part of what Joseph Onuorah Foundation spelling bee competition is trying to instill.
“The grand prize at the 2025 season for winners will get N150,000 for the first position while 2nd position and 3rd position will N100,000 and N50,000 respectively.
“I enjoin all heads of schools of primary school pupils across the Orumba North and South to take advantage of such engagements to gain more knowledge for their future endeavors,” Onuorah concluded.