ISLAMABAD: The inaugural edition of the Pakistan Spelling Bee competition began in the eastern city of Lahore this past weekend, organizers said on Monday, adding they had returned a European Union (EU) sponsorship for the event over the bloc’s support of Israeli “genocide” of Palestinians and criminalization of lawful dissent by its citizens.
Spelling Bee competitions, a global phenomenon, are designed to cultivate a passion for language among children and enhance their academic abilities.
Pakistani startup, Storykit, which focuses on enhancing children’s engagement with books through interactive storytelling and games, launched the first-ever Pakistan Spelling Bee competition, which would run in nearly three dozen cities till December. The competition, held in both English and Urdu languages, includes 6,000 participants from grade 3 till 8.
The opening event of the competition took place in Lahore on October 21-22, which would be followed by similar events in Karachi, Peshawar, Islamabad and other cities, with representation from both public and private institutions.
The grand finale, scheduled for December 3 in Islamabad, will feature teams from across Pakistan, declaring winners in six categories in both English and Urdu languages.
“We are organizing Pakistan Spelling Bee event for the first time and we have over 2,000 teams, that is over 6,000 kids enrolled in the competition from 35 cities across Pakistan,” Musharraf Ali Farooqi, the Storykit founder, told Arab News on Monday.
“As the organizers of an educational event for Pakistani children, it would be unconscionable for us to have the European Union as our sponsor, which has recently offered political support for the apartheid Israeli regime’s dehumanization and unfolding genocide of the innocent Palestinian children, women and men, and criminalized lawful dissent by European citizens in their own societies.”
The European Union committed 10,000 euros to the event and had already paid half of this amount, while the remaining half was to be paid after the competition, according to Farooqi. Storykit later sent a rescinding request to the EU mission in Pakistan.
“They have informed us that they will initiate the process to get the money back,” Farooqi said.
The EU mission in Islamabad did not respond to Arab News’ queries via email and phone for a comment on the matter.
Farooqi said the decision to return EU sponsorship was not at all an emotional one and rather a very well “thought-out and considered” step.
“We would like to believe that fundamental rights, and international laws and conventions are not based on rhetoric which can be bent one way or the other to suit a party’s interests,” he said, adding if a sponsor’s views were in conflict with basic humanitarian principles, Pakistan Spelling Bee could not have their sponsorship.
Rifts have also emerged within the EU over how to respond to Israel’s conflict with Hamas and the bloc’s leaders are set to discuss the issue at a summit on Thursday.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that he believed the bloc’s leaders would back a call for a “humanitarian pause” to allow aid to enter Gaza.
The EU has long faced internal divisions over its policy with regards to Israel and the Palestinians. It has struggled with conflicting messaging amid the surge in violence following the October 7 attack by Hamas and Israel’s reprisals.
The attack by Hamas militants killed at least 1,400 people, according to Israeli officials. They also seized more than 200 hostages in the worst-ever attack in Israel’s history.
Israel has responded with a relentless bombing campaign that has so far killed more than 5,000 Palestinians, mainly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
