City boy casts a spell, heads for national finals

MUMBAI: Nikunj Bhartia from Gundecha Education Academy is all set to compete in the national finals of the Classmate Spell Bee Season 7, powered by the Times of India. Bhartia emerged as the winner in the third level of competition from the city. The semifinals were conducted in 30 cities, including Mumbai.
Bhartia, a class IX student from the Kandivli school, was selected after two rounds of online test.“The first round, which had around 60 questions, was not that difficult. I managed to get over 40 correct answers. The second round, which had 45 questions, was a bit tricky,” said Bhartia. The online semifinals of India’s largest spelling competition, was conducted in Mumbai this week.
The Classmate Spell Bee 2014 was launched four months ago by Classmate and Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM. Times NIE was the education partner of the event. The culmination of the event will see the top 16 scorers in the country compete for India’s Spell Bee Champion. He/she champion will win Rs 2 lakh apart from the opportunity to witness the Scripps National Spelling Bee along with a parent in Washington DC in an all expenses paid trip.
Chand Das, chief executive, ITC’s Education and Stationery Products Business, said, “We have reached out to an even larger number of students across schools and cities in India, through the school contact program coupled with the novel mobile app and dedicated website helping engage students.”
Hitesh Sharma, executive president, Entertainment Network (India) Limited, said, “Spell Bee has grown beyond being a just competition for school kids and today is proud of celebrating its seventh season with the children of India.”