The Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has collaborated with The Intellectual Potential Initiative (IPI) to conduct a spelling bee competition for 41 junior secondary schools in the state.
SEMA Executive Secretary, Dr Mohammed Goje, disclosed at the opening ceremony of the competition on Saturday in Damaturu.
According to Goje, the essence of the competition was to restore hope and encourage learning among students, whose education was affected by the insurgency.
He stated that no fewer than 100 participants were selected from 27 public and 14 private schools across the state.
The theme of the two-day competition, which commenced on Saturday is: “Nurturing talents and building resilience in post conflict through educational development.”
“We are gathered here today to achieve educational multi dimensional approach of His Excellency, Mai Mala Buni.
“Our role at this agency is to ensure that communities affected by conflict come out stronger far better than before and during the conflict.
“And we realised that during the displacement caused by conflict, a lot of parents migrated in Buniyadi, Gashua, Nguru, Geidam and other places
“And this has translated to migration with parents changing school to their children.
“So we felt it is an important opportunity to identify students from conflict affected communities and bring them together to the state capital and test their skills,” he said.
He noted that the students would spell over 1,500 words based on the global best practices and at the end of the day, a winner would emerge and go home with a prize.
