The event comprised a Spelling Bee contest for children from different schools, competing in an inter-school format, and an Islamic calligraphic competition for students of two age groups — seniors and juniors.

The aim of the event was not only to inculcate in children the habit of learning new words and their spellings, but to also emphasize that these words could take them into the realms of the magical world of reading and writing in a language, English, that is becoming a binding force in this global village. The mode of learning was through a fun-filled contest that even saw adults interact freely.

The second part of the program was to bring focus back on calligraphy and rediscover the charms of the Arabic language through writing harmoniously, innovatively and imaginatively.

The event was attended by students of CBSC-affiliated schools. The Spelling Bee was conducted to counter the effects of this IT era, where children are exposed to computers, which have built-in language editors, and abbreviated mobile text messaging and online chatting. These have led to a decline in students knowing how to spell correctly. This has impacted on the writing and speaking skills of people, with the students being the most affected.

The Spelling Bee program in some way tried to bring back the charm of spelling to students, with its unique format that saw children go through an elimination round before four finalist teams emerged.

The Bee involved spelling the words in traditional format, forming multiple words from a single word, filling in crosswords through given clues, and unscrambling scrambled words before a “Gift Bag” and rapid-fire rounds brought about the best between the competing teams.

While the Bee’s elimination rounds were in progress, the Islamic Calligraphy competition was also under way. The participants were given the free choice to write “Rabbi Zidni Ilma” in various Arabic calligraphic forms.

The good numbers that participated, both in the junior and senior categories, brought out some brilliant patterns. While some used simple and neat writing with artistic embellishments on the side, others developed the sentence in cursive or linear dimensions.

Five schools — Al-Falah International School (DPS), Al-Wurood International School, Dauha Al-Uloom International School, Novel International School and Shathi Al-Noor International School — participated in the event.

Ten teams, with each team comprising three participants, entered the fray and four teams made it to the final.

Girls dominated the competition and Al-Wurood girls’ team — consisting of Ashily Joy, Safrin Asha and Fareeha Jabeen — beat the girls’ team of Al-Falah (DPS) — comprising Juveriya Asif, Juna Khaleel and Anam Ahsan — to the title.

The other two finalists were the girls’ team of Shathi Al-Noor International School and the boys’ team of Al-Falah (DPS), who finished fourth.

In the Islamic Calligraphy, the first position in the juniors category went to Raveesh Ahmed - Grade VI of Dauha Al-Uloom International School - Boys; second position went to Nusaiba Fati - Grade VI of Al-Wurood International School – Girls; and third position went to Jawad -Grade VI of Dauha Al Uloom International School - Boys.

In the senior category, Dauha Al-Uloom International School - Girls dominated the competition by wining all the three prizes. First prize was bagged by Sumaiya Hakeem of Grade VIII, second place by S.A. Azeem Sabeen of Grade VIII, and the third spot by Fathima Ashfaq of Grade VIII.

Consul General of India Sayeed Ahmed Baba was the chief guest of the occasion. He presented the prizes to the winners of the Islamic Calligraphy event.

Consul (HOC) B.K Aseeja and Consul (Consular) Rajendra Kharayat distributed prizes to the winning teams and participants in the Spelling Bee event.

Sahar Sultan was the competition’s host and conductor. She was assisted by Jaspreet Kaur and Syeda Amtul on dictionary checks, Hasan Bayazid and Zubair Mohammed as scorers, S.P. Singh as timekeeper and Khwaja Nasir Jamal through multimedia support.

Women Coordinators who assisted in the Islamic Calligraphy Competition were Naheed Zaidi, Jaspreet Kaur, Kahkashan Ahmad and Sara Ali.

The event was judged by Mahmoud Ahmed, National and Gulf editor at Arab News, and Awad Al-Sabae, loss adjuster at Lloyd’s Agency, Jeddah.