KARACHI, Feb 23: The Karachi District Rounds of the fourth Dawn in Education Spelling Bee kicked off at the Bahria Auditorium, Karsaz, on Saturday.

This year’s contest has drawn a record entry of about 2,500 students from 330 schools representing Karachi and the interior of Sindh.

“What is particularly encouraging is the response received from schools from the interior of Sindh, such as Hyderabad, Daharki, Jacobabad, Mirpur Mathelo, Ranipur, Tando Mohammad Khan, reinforcing the nationwide reach of the competition,” a press release said.

In the district rounds, spread over seven days, 330 schools will compete for 24 places across each of the three age brackets —9-11 years, 12-14 and 15-17 — in the Karachi Regional Championships.

After the district rounds, the 24 winning teams in each age group will proceed to the Karachi regional round, where the teams will battle it out until nine children in each group emerge.

The Karachi teams for the three age groups will then be joined by teams from Lahore and Islamabad at the National Championships, scheduled for March 4. The Dawn in Education Spelling Bee has been organised in collaboration with Wall’s (Unilever). It is being supported by DawnNews TV & CityFM.

The contest is being judged by Zenobia Master and OUP judges Batul Ali, Rahila Ashraf, Salma Adil, Samuel Ray and Ameena Saiyid.

The volunteer pronouncers include Susan Gilbert, Ruth Bavington, Danny Mackay, Den Moore, Hazel Todoris, Judy Khan, Noor Jehan Mecklai, Pamela Taylor and Yasmeen Sayeed.