Hundreds of students gather at Bangalore Institute of Technology for Spellstar 2011

Hundreds of enthusiastic children gathered at Bangalore Institute of Technology, on Sunday to take part in Spellstar 2011, annual spelling competition organised by Rotary Bangalore South East (RBSE).

In the nail-biting finals, it was Achutha Srinivasan from National Academy for Learning (NAFL) who stood first in Group A, Kartik Tadepalli from NAFL from Group B and Veena from Delhi Public School stood first in their respective categories in the spelling contest held.

In its second year, about 75 schools participated in the one-day event.

“We have made it more practical than technical. The words that are being tested are those which are used on a daily basis and that are commonly misspelt,” said Unnikrishnan Menon, president of RBSE.

When asked if the contest was similar to the American version of Spell Bee, Menon said for those, students really have to prepare in detail.

“Many times, they are given words from medical terminology and those which even adults are not aware of. Here we want them to get a feel of regular spellings,” said Menon.

“While for the international competition, students prepare for about six months to a year, this contest does not involve so much preparation. Although preparation helps, students can manage otherwise too,” said Menon.

This year, students from Class V and Class VI were allowed to participate.

“We have allowed as many students to participate. Otherwise usually, schools just send in the top students and others may not get a chance to participate,” said Menon.

“Whenever we get a chance, we participate in these competitions. The competition has been quite good until now,” said Samvida S Venkatesh and Aishwarya Sasi, Class IX students of National Public School.