Project Gambia, a charity based in the UK on Wednesday organised a spelling bee competition for four of five nursery schools (Wisdom NurserySchool, St. Peter's NurserySchool, Omega Nursery/Primary School and Spring of Life Nursery School) it works with in The Gambia at African Village Hotel.
Omega Nursery/Primary School emerged first position with 23 points. They were awarded gold medals, gold certificates and other materials.
Spring of Life Nursery School finished second postion with 22 points. They were rewarded with silver certificates and other materials.
Wisdom Nursery School took third position with 21 points and as such received bronze certificates and other materials.
St. Peter'sNursery School came out fourth position and were also rewarded with certificates and other materials.
Bev Hodt, Founder of Project Gambia described the kids as almost good as the kids they organised a similar competition for in UK.
She added that children in UK are much more confident but noted that was because Gambian children are not used to such competitions.
She pointed out that with more of such competitions they will perform even better.
"We are impressed with the work that schools we work with are doing and we are more than happy to continue supporting them," she also said.
Emmanuel Omorodion, Proprietor of Wisdom Nursery School who doubles as the Vice President of the National Association of Early Childhood Educator in The Gambia said the children did very well and thanked the Founder of Project Gambia for organising the competition. He also thanked Pastor Famous for the idea.
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Famous David Uhunmwanggo, Proprietor of Omega Nursery/Primary School said the competitiveness of the competition means that there is a future for the Gambian child and that their efforts are not in vain. He added that it also motivaties them to put in more effort to be able to see children do well in life.
He added that it will be welcomed if stakeholders join the initiative and make it bigger to build the confidence in children and get them ready for the future.
He highlighted that one of the major problems in the country is the ability to read, noting that when children are able to spell words and build up their word power, then reading becomes easy for them.
Mariama Fofana of Spring of Life Nursery School expressed delight with the children's performance during the competition. She appealed to teachers and parents to put in more effort in helping children with spelling.
Zackline Jabang of St. Peter's Nursery School said the competition will help children to focus more on their education, noting that spelling exposes children to more knowledge. She added that children should not be limited to within the four corners of the classroom.
She highlighted the need to build a strong educational foundation for children, saying we cannot wait until they reach grade 9 or 12 to want to develop them and expect them to pass examinations.
"We need to nurture children well today to ensure their future becomes whatever we want it to be," she also stated.
