A FASCINATING competition – Scripps National Spelling Bee – is held every year for school students in the US. In the year 2012, which has just ended, it was won by an Indian-American girl, Snigdha Nandipati, whose parents come from Andhra Pradesh.

Those interested can see the video of the competition on the Internet. The prize money for the winner was about $40,000 along with some other benefits. The organisers plan to extend it to other parts of the world.

I feel such a competition should also be held in Pakistan as it would help in improving the standard of English in the country. One could also consider Urdu for this purpose. I have always enjoyed seeing it because I also make feeble attempts to try to match the participants.

An amazing fact about this competition is that Nandipati became the fifth consecutive Indian winner and 10 in the last 14 years, a run that began in1999,when another Indian Nupar Lala won and was later featured in a documentary Spellbound.

Why do Indians win so often? Is it a genetic factor? Almost all of them are South Indians, so this may be the case. It is more likely to be hard work and admiration for scholastic achievements. There is much to learn for the youth of Pakistan who are drawn more to sports. Of course, there is nothing wrong in this but this should be balanced with studies and scholarly work.

VIQAR ZAMAN Karachi