VUT backs high school spelling bee

Learners who won prizes together with the VUT staff from the Logistics Department

Thabiso Sechele

Grade 8 learners from five schools participated in the English Spelling Bee Competition at Dr Molefi Oliphant Secondary School, in Bophelong, on 1 September.

The competition was made possible by Ray Smart Solutions and VUT. The commonality between these two organisations is their love for education and excellence. “The aim of the competition is to help improve literature from an early age as it proves to be a problem in our country,” said the CEO of Ray Smart Solutions, Raymond Nkonyane.

Some anxious, some confident, the learners who participated were nevertheless very well prepared and amazed judges as they performed beyond expectation. Judges literally ran out of words and new words had to be introduced in the competition to allow eliminations!

Thokozile Mnyayi from the host school was the overall winner of the competition. Nelisiwe Nyandeni and Lebohang Mduze also made it to the finals.

VUT lecturers and high school teachers agreed that this type of collaboration would bring secondary and tertiary education together and that learners would benefit greatly.

“We supported this event because some learners come to tertiary struggling with literature. Working with teachers will bring improvement I believe,” said a lecturer in the Logistics Department. The judges were from the logistics department and prizes were sponsored by the VUT alumni office and VUT FM sponsored with the sound system.