Tough contest among spellers

Students from Aga Khan School and Mastermind School from Dhaka and (bottom)Govt Laboratory High School and Khulna Zilla School from Khulna are proudly showing Golden Tickets they won to compete in the divisional round. Photo: STAR

The competition at Mastermind School yesterday was one of the fiercest so far in the school activation rounds. With over 30 eager participants, a roomful of audience members and teachers cheering, Spelling Bee witnessed a head-to-head competition as spellers put their skills to the test.
Round after round went on until four spellers came out on top. Even as harder words came up, the number of participants to be knocked out rose very slowly. The four students of Mastermind to move on to the divisional round were Mayisha Masud, Azman Anju Khan Chowdhury and Mahin Ar Rahman from Class 9 and Mehbeez Binte Marur from Class 8.
The other school visited by the Champs21 team in Dhaka was Aga Khan School. There, too, qualified four spellers: Faiyad Rahman (Class 8), Md Mustakeen ul Bari (Class 7), Nipuni Rajapaksa (Class 8) and Alif Meraz Hamid (Class 9).
Meanwhile in Khulna, two schools were visited. From Khulna Zilla School, Zisan Siddiqui Siam, Md Ferdous Rabby and Faizul Karim Alif -- all students of Class 9 -- qualified.
The other school was Govt Laboratory High School, where three students of Class 10 -- Farhana Muzib Keya, Tanzena Khan Mim and SM Nahin Rahman -- qualified for the next round.
Anyone who has not made it to the divisional round through the school can still participate through the online game on www.champ21.com until February 28. Online participants can play the game as many times as they want. Only their highest scores will be considered while selecting the qualifiers for the divisional rounds.
The finals of the competition are to be held in June.
Detailed information about the competition is available on www.champs21.com, the first e-learning portal of Bangladesh. Students who want to participate in the event through the online rounds can visit the website and play the Spelling Bee Game.