MULTAN: The two-day Multan pool rounds of the 13th Dawn in Education Spelling Bee Competition started here on Wednesday at the Multan Arts Council Auditorium.

Over 300 students from 47 schools of southern Punjab, including Multan, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Khanewal, Muzaffargarh, Bahawalnagar, Rajanpur, Layyah, Mailsi, Fazilpur, Hasilpur, Kot Addu, Liaquatpur, Mandi Bahauddin, Mehmoodkot, Vehari, Sadiqabad and Jhang are participating in the competition.

The competition is being conducted in three age groups – nine to 11 years, 12 to 14 years and 15 to 17 years. Three students from each group will qualify to participate in the Lahore Regional Championship which will be held on Oct 28.

Khadija Shaukat from The City School, Gulgasht Colony Multan Campus; and Umer Majeedullah and Husnain Zahid from Bloomfield Hall Upper School Jampur grabbed the first, second and third positions, respectively, in the nine to 11 age group.

In the age group between 12 and 14 years, Noor Fatima from Khanewal Public School and College, Khanewal; Saba Kaleem from The City School, Afzal Town, Khanewal; and Noor Fatima from La Salle Higher Secondary School, Bosan Road, Multan stood first, second and third, respectively.

The pronouncer was Tanveer Shah while Dr Adnan Tahir, Dr Masroor Sibtain, Beenish Ikhlaq and Sidra Mazari were the judges.

This competition is being organised by The Dawn Media Group and judges are provided by the Oxford University Press.

This year approximately 1,000 schools from across Pakistan will be participating in the competition — the largest school event in Pakistan organised under the Dawn in Education programme.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2017