15 years of representing Ghana and Africa: Story of The Spelling Bee Ghana

The Spelling Bee Ghana is celebrating its 15th anniversary in the country. As part of the celebration, organisers of the competition in Ghana, Young Educators Foundation, in a statement announced that from May 2022 and every subsequent year, Ghana will have three Spellers at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the US.

“This opportunity increases our chances of getting closer to the coveted title of the best speller in the world, giving more children the opportunity to make Ghana proud,” Young Educators Foundation added in the statement.

Read the full statement below: 

For 15 years, The Young Educators Foundation has trained Spellers to represent Ghana and Africa in the internationally renowned literacy program Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The Scripps Spelling Bee has been around for 96 years now, and for a decade and a half, Ghana continues to be the only African country represented in the competition.

This anniversary marks a proud and exciting moment as we continue to represent and make our continent proud on a global platform. In the last 15 years, The Spelling Bee has impacted close to 30,000 children who
have been through the program.

Other significant milestones include the grooming of international champion Afua Ansah, whose historic and spectacular performance at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2016 saw her as one of the top 20 spellers in
the world.

The next goal is to groom a speller from Ghana to the top 10 best spellers in the world. To achieve this goal, The Foundation will improve upon its existing tactics and strategies in grooming our spellers.

Reading is the basis of what The Spelling Bee is looking to promote, along with essential skills for young children like self-confidence and public speaking.

The Spelling Bee hopes to go beyond being a household name in Ghana to become a lifestyle in every student’s academic and non-academic journey in the next five years.

Speaking at the anniversary celebration on the relevance of literacy, Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy, Virginia Elliott, said: “Education and literacy are US government priorities in Ghana. We know that literacy and education unlock the path to the future for young people – opening doors to individual professional and personal development, and, ultimately, economic development for Ghana as a whole.”

The Foundation is looking to reach as many children as possible to improve their lives through literacy.

It hopes organizations and international agencies will support children from marginalized communities by funding their participation in the program.

For the last 14 years, Ghana has had one speller giving off their best at the competition.

The team has been working tirelessly on the clock to meet the persistent requests from parents, spellers, and partners to have more representatives on the global stage. The Spelling Bee has secured additional seats for children to participate internationally.

As The Spelling Bee marks 15 years of impact, Young Educators Foundation is proud to announce that from May 2022 and every subsequent year, Ghana will have three Spellers at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the US.

With this new privilege comes additional responsibilities. We are hoping that again, when we knock on the doors of prospective sponsors and partners, we can get the much-needed support to take full advantage of this offer. This opportunity increases our chances of getting closer to the coveted title of the best speller in the world,
giving more children the opportunity to make Ghana proud.

Commenting on the anniversary, Country Director of Young Educators Foundation, Eugenia Tachie-Menson said:

“We would like to thank all our partners who have seen us through the years with their support, financial or services which have contributed to making The Spelling Bee, first of all, a number one brand for children all over the country to aspire to be a part of. But more so, these 15 years would not have been possible without the support of our partners, the persistent demands from children of Ghana to keep running the program because they want to be a part of it.

We really do appreciate all our stakeholders, the children, parents, schools, the Ghana Education Service, Ministry of Education, who have all contributed in diverse ways to ensure that this program has become what it is. We appreciate the support, and here’s to the next 15 years!”

About The Spelling Bee-Ghana

The Spelling Bee Ghana (TSBGH) is a literacy programme that teaches primary children between ages 8 and 13 how to improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn and understand word concepts, and develop English usage.

TSBGH is a local version of the internationally acclaimed Scripps Spelling Bee, USA.

The Spelling Bee is a Ghana Education Service (GES) endorsed programme.