Following the long and rigorous foundational works of the Finnish Association of the Deaf, supporting the promotion of sign language in Malawi, MANAD finally organized a national spelling bee competition for deaf children. Six schools for the Deaf participated in the competitions. These were Mua, Maryview, Embangweni, Bandawe, Mount view and Karonga Schools for the Deaf.
This competition was achieved with the financial support from USAID, World Vision International, Australian Government and technical support from eKitabu and Malawi national Spelling Bee in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
The competition comprised of 18 contestants – starting standard 2 to 4. Each school sent 3 children. In Africa, this type of competition was not first to take place. In 2019, Botswana conducted same type of competition. Four schools namely Tashatha Junior Secondary School in Francistown, Francistown Centre for the Deaf, Ramotswa Centre for the Deaf and Linchwe Junior Secondary School participated in this year’s national competitions. This shows that Malawi is second country to conduct such type of competition in Africa.
Chief Education Officer at Directorate of Special Needs Education, Mr. Msendema hailed the competition. He said that this is one way of promoting literacy among deaf learners.
