Spelling bee competition to be aired on KTN

Kenya National Spelling Bee programme director Kennedy Odoyo (left) shakes on a gold sponsorship deal with Veda CEO Paolo Miglietta. [Courtesy]

The Kenya National Spelling Bee (KNSB) competition is set to commence on your favourite leading TV channel KTN.

The spelling competition is open to learners in public and private primary schools and is aimed at building a reading culture.

Five hundred schools have registered to participate in the contest to air on KTN Home in September after pupils who qualify are shortlisted for the next stage.

KNSB Managing Director Kennedy Odhiambo said Festive Bread Limited would sponsor the contests.

“The partnership is simply based on the fact that Festive Bread is a family brand that supports quality education,” said Mr Odhiambo.

He went on: “The competition will start within schools which will produce three qualifiers for the sub-county level competitions where again, three pupils will be picked to represent their counties at the national platform."

Head of English panels from participating schools will be taught how to conduct the internal spelling bee championships and KNSB's qualification requirements.

The championship is open to Class Four to Eight pupils who will sit a written test.

The overall winner of the competition will be awarded Sh500,000 and a laptop. A Sh50,000 award will be presented to the winner's English teacher while their school will win a 26-seater bus.

The top three contenders will represent Kenya in the annual African Spelling Bee competition where Kenya is a founding member and emerged position eight in the continent at the last contest.

In this edition of the spelling bee contest, the pupils are also expected to gain proper communication skills and develop intra-personal skills and values such as self-esteem.

Festive Bread Limited pledged to offer job opportunities to the students who excel in the competition as a way of paying homage to the communities that raised them.