The Arts Council was all set for an exciting event on October 3, 2012, when children from over 300 schools from all across Karachi got together to participate in the 8th Dawn in Education National Spelling Bee, 2012.

The participants first competed on a team basis, where the students from each school worked as one team with one speller who was allowed to spell the word. However, as the competition moved forward to the final stages, each student was asked to compete on an individual basis.

Schools that made it to the final round were Karachi Grammar School, with one student qualifying in each age category: 9-11, 12-14, and 15-17. Other schools that managed to make it to the National Championship were Links, The Mama Parsi Girls Secondary School, Generation’s School and Happy Home School (O level Campus).

Students who won the final round were selected to go to Islamabad to participate in the National Championship. The participants from the 9-11 age category, Pool A, were Zeeshan Rasool from Karachi Grammar School, (Winner), Meer Raza Jumani from Links, (1st runner-up) and Asfandyar Khan from Headstart School (2nd runner-up), who was coincidently also seen in 2011’s Spelling Bee competition’s winners list.

Students from the 12 -14 age category, Pool B, were Ahsen Khan from Happy Home School, O-levels (Winner), Leila Rasul Khan from Karachi Grammar School (1st runner-up) and Ali Sulaiman from Generation’s School (2nd runner-up).

Students from the 15-17 age category, Pool C, were Javeria Salman from The Mama Parsi Girls Secondary School (Winner), Javeria Arshad Mirza from Karachi Grammar School (1st runner-up) and M. Daniyal Ali (2nd runner-up), who was also from Karachi Grammar School.

Rukhsana Ahsan and Angela Hassan from the Oxford University Press were the judges for the competition, while the pronouncers included Gill Adams, Shirley Valika and Humaira Ali Khan.

The US Consulate General, Michael Dodman, wrapped up the programme by commenting on the exciting event. — Manal Faheem Khan