The Juba Primary Schools Mini Competition 2023 is being organized by Excellence Foundation for South Sudan and South Sudan National Spelling Bee for 12 primary schools. The competition includes spelling bee, speed challenge quiz, speech, and academic debate competitions to encourage students to improve English language skills like vocabulary, communication, and comprehension. The competition will take place from September 18th to October 18th 2023, with group stages, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a grand finale award ceremony. The objectives are to advocate for education, develop problem-solving skills, provide training, empower students, and foster equal opportunities for all children.

1. Juba Primary Schools
Mini Competition 2023
EMPOWERING SCHOOL CHILDREN TO REACH THEIR FULL POTENTIAL

2. Juba Schools Mini Competition:
The Juba Schools Mini Competition 2023 is being organized by the
Excellence Foundation for South Sudan (EFSS) and South Sudan National
Spelling Bee (SSNSB) for interested public and private primary schools.
Schools will compete in Spelling Bee, Speed Challenge Quiz, Speech and
Academic Debate.
This is conducted for primary school children with an innovative approach
that combines learning with fun and competition.
This will encourage them to explore the English language, expand their
vocabulary and improve their communication and comprehension skills.

3. Juba Schools Mini Competition:
This competition will happen in Term III from 18th September to 18th
October 2023.
There will be two matches in the group stages before the top 08 schools
proceed to Quarter Finals, Semi-finals and best 02 to the Grand Finale.
We will have the award ceremony on the afternoon of 18th October 2023
where we will announce the winner, top spellers, quizzers, best teacher
(coach).
There will be 12 primary schools in this second edition of the competition.
The competition is part of our vision of ensuring that every South
Sudanese child reaches their full intellectual potential.

4. Program Objectives:
A. To advocate for child education in South Sudan.
B. To develop critical problem-solving skills of pupils to learn to think more
creatively and get a chance to test their knowledge in new, real-world
situations.
C. To provide orientation/training to pupils and adjudicators, responsible
teachers in their respective schools to enhance promotion of debates, public
speaking, quizzes, spelling, writing and provide a skilled foundation to build a
career – therefore reducing levels of lack of confidence in children.
D. To empower pupils to believe in their dreams and to enable them acquire
presentation skills (through formal and informal prospects) so that they can
live to realize their potentials.
E. Foster a change in community attitudes whereby everybody is given the
opportunity to succeed.

5. Importance of the Program:
A. Stimulate playing, acting, recitation, speaking and narrating in pupils. These activities help in
achieving overall functioning of education.
B. It enables the participating pupils to express themselves freely through the different categories
and to develop the spirit of healthy competition.
C. These activities guide pupils on how to organize and present an activity, how to develop skills, and
how to co-operate and co-ordinate in different situations - all these helps in leadership qualities.
D. It provides avenues of socialization, self-identification and self-assessment when the child meets
organizers, fellow participants, teachers and people outside their school during competition.
E. Inculcate the values to respect other’s views, feeling and perfects in decision making.
F. It develops a sense of belongingness, provide motivation for learning and the values like physical,
psychological, ethical, academic, civic, social, cultural recreational and disciplinary values.

6. Expected Outcomes:
1. Developed learners’ speaking skills and ability to express themselves
verbally in front of a group, which builds confidence.
2. Learners research skills are developed and broadened, their horizons to
begin exploring ‘big’ ethical questions teaching them to see things from
a range of perspectives, build self-esteem because it is highly validating
for children to be asked their opinion and show them that their
thoughts and voice matter.
3. Formation of debate and reading clubs in schools that shall offer
children the opportunity to take part in competitions against other
teams from the same or different schools locally, nationally or
internationally.

7. Team Formation:
Quiz and Spelling Teams should have 05 pupils per team in each round.
The speech is only one speaker per school in a particular match.
The teams for the debate must consist of 03 speakers speaking in each round.
That means each school will have three teams; a debating team (03 members), a
speech person, and a Quiz and Spelling Team (05 members) for every round they will
participate in.
Schools can decide to have two different teams for the spelling and quiz respectively.
Heads of Department, Teachers of English and Class teachers should mentor and
prepare as many pupils as possible ahead of each competitive round. We advise schools
to hold internal contest to choose best representatives prior to the inter-schools’
competition.

8. Format of the Competition:
1. The competition will happen through school visits hosted by the proposition team in every
round.
2. The school opposing the motion shall be the visiting team and shall transport not more than
20 participants to the competition at the host school.
3. All debates will be prepped motions which means that the teams will be told the motions
and their side (whether they are opposers or proposers) at least four (04) days ahead of
time. This year, the themes will be education, peacebuilding, and social life.
4. Words for spelling bee or quiz questions will not be told in advance.
5. The results of each competition will be announced after the match by the adjudicator(s).
6. Teams will have an opportunity to approach judges for personal feedback should there be
extra time.

9. General Debate Rules:
1. All normal debating rules will apply in this competition.
2. This means that debates will be adjudicated based on content,
style, strategy, role fulfilment and engagement through Point of
Information (PoIs) and rebuttal.
3. Any coaches may not assist their teams during the debate.
4. All 03 speakers must speak for 5 minutes and summary speeches
at the end of the debate in 4 minutes and 30 seconds.
5. Speakers will have an additional 20 seconds to finish their
sentence in case they are caught by time.

10. Team roles
The captains
The captain gives two speeches – an opening speech, and a summation after all the rest of the team has
spoken. You do not have to use the same captain for each debate, you can rotate the roles if you want to
give different students the chance to be captain.
The captains’ opening speeches
The captain of the proposition is responsible for defining the motion, breaking it down to its relevant parts
and giving their team’s interpretation of it.
It is very important that the captain of the opposition then responds to the definition given by the captain
of the proposition. The opposition captain may then accept, challenge or broaden the proposition’s
definition by giving their own team’s definition of it.
Each captain should introduce their teammates and the arguments they will make. As well as addressing
the motion and introducing the team, each captain should advance an argument of their own, but bear in
mind that they will not have as much time to do this as other members of the team!

11. Second, and third speakers
1. Each speaker should have their own approach to or angle on the motion. Everyone
on the team should be aware of the points their teammates will use to avoid
repetition and to ensure continuity of argument.
2. If you are using a team line it is important that no one forgets! But don’t overuse it -
it should be reserved for key moments or to emphasize a point.
3. Each team member is responsible for refuting and rebutting the arguments of the
other team. If a speaker does not address any of the other team’s points, then
he/she will not receive any points under the refutation and rebuttal section of the
marking sheet.
4. As the third speakers will have heard most of their opponents’ argument there is an
expectation that they will employ more refutation and rebuttal than the second
speakers.

12. Captains’ summation
1. Summations occur after the third member of the team has spoken. The
captain of the opposition is called first, followed by the final speaker of
the night, the captain of the proposition.
2. Captains should remind the adjudication panel of their team’s key
arguments. They should try and tie all the arguments together.
3. A captain may not introduce new material in their summation – they
will not receive any points for any new material they bring in at this
stage and may have marks deducted.
4. The captain’s summation is an opportunity for them to refute and
rebut the arguments of the other team and to recall the various
rebuttals that were employed by their team.

13. Researchers and substitutes
1. Teams must have substitutes who are involved in the
preparation of each debate and who are able to step-in
should a member of the team be unable to debate.
2. Researchers are very useful as they can help with
interviews and listen critically to debaters as they practise
and prepare.
3. You do not have to stick to the same three speakers for
each debate, for example if you have six students
involved you can rotate them.

14. Behaviour at the debate
1. Interruptions, calling for points of order or any form of heckling by
either team members or members of the audience is not permitted.
2. Sarcasm and personal or snide remarks are not in keeping with the spirit
of this competition.
3. Adjudicators will dock marks in ‘ability to communicate, persuade and
engage’.
4. Teams and their supporters should treat their opponents, their peers
and the venue with respect.
5. Adjudicators should be mindful that they are representing the
organisers as a visitor to the school.

15. Speech Competition Rules:
1. Each competitor will deliver a MEMORISED talk (not a reading) on a subject they have chosen. The
speech must be an original composition by the pupil. It may contain ideas from various sources
but must be verbalized in the student’s own words.
2. The ideas being expressed in the speech need to be organized in a logical way.
3. There should be a clear introduction and conclusion.
4. The speech is for an audience of peers, so the topic should be neither so simple that it seems
unimportant, nor so obscure that it leaves them struggling to understand.
5. Length of Speech is no more than 5 minutes in duration.
6. 1 point per minute will be deducted if a speaker goes overtime by more than 1 minute to a
maximum of 2 minutes. Entrants who go over by more than 3 minutes will be disqualified.
7. Pupils will be introduced by an announcer and are therefore NOT required to introduce
themselves before they begin their speech.

16. Speech Competition Rules:
Please note:
1. students MUST learn their speech – in the previous year there has been too much
reliance on paper.
2. each speech MUST be entertaining and engage the audience.
3. factual speeches need to have ‘relief’ within them.
4. students should be very careful with choice of topic – they should make sure it
captivates them.
5. students should be confident.
6. movement and gesture should be minimal and there should not be any costuming.
Adjudicators highly recommend that pupils wear school uniform.

17. Speed Challenge Quiz:
The Quiz will have two sections.
In the first section, each team will have three 60 separate seconds to answer as many questions
as possible from Mathematics, English, Religious Education, General Science, Social Studies,
General Knowledge Questions and current Affairs.
Teams have 10 seconds to answer every question in the first section
In the second section, each team member will face each other in the categories of Mathematics,
English, Religious Education, General Science, Social Studies, and/or Current Affairs. 5 questions
in each subject for each quizzer.
Once read, the question must be answered in 5 seconds. This round lasts 5 minutes.
A team gets 1 point for every correct answer and 0 point for a wrong answer.
The team that gives more correct answers wins.

18. Spelling Bee:
Spellers may not receive any help of any sort from other spellers or members of the
audience
There will be a total of three rounds with each speller getting a maximum of 10 words
in Round One, 2 words in Round Two and 3 words in Round Three
In each round, spellers will receive one word to spell at a time. If they spell correctly,
they continue to the next word. If they spell the word incorrectly, they will be
eliminated.
Each word will be spelt within 20 seconds and the bell will be used for time limits.
Contestants may pronounce the words before spelling them, after spelling them or not
at all.
For all words with capitals, the speller must indicate the Capital Letter.

19. Round 1: 10 words, 1 minute
1. Each Speller gets 1 minute to spell as many words as possible.
2. Maximum 10 words per speller
3. A timekeeper keeps the time with a stopwatch or phone. They say ‘Go” to
start the round
4. The Pronouncer asks each word without giving a definition or using the word
in a sentence
5. Spellers can say “pass’” if they don’t know the word
6. Spellers can ask the word to be repeated as many times as they want
7. Once the Minute is over – the total number of correct words is counted up
8. The Speller gets 1 point for each correct word spelled.

20. Round 2: Two Words, 30 seconds each
1. Each speller gets 02 words to spell
2. The pronouncer gives the word, the definition, and an example in
a sentence
3. If the speller gets the word correctly, they get a point.
4. If they spell the word incorrectly, they do not get a point.
5. The speller only has one chance to spell the word. If they stop in
the middle, they can restart.
6. They have 30 seconds to spell the word
7. If they don’t spell the word in 30 seconds, they do not get a point.

21. Round 3: Three Words, 20 seconds each
1. Each speller gets three words to spell in this round.
2. Each word will be spelt within 20 seconds and the bell will be used for time limits.
3. The pronouncer asks each word without giving a definition or using the word in a
sentence
4. Spellers can say “pass’” if they don’t know the word
5. If they have enough time, they can come back to words they ‘passed”
6. Spellers can ask the word to be repeated as many times as they want
7. The speller gets 1 point for each correct word spelled.
8. Words in this round are intermediate to advanced level and are taken from subjects
across the South Sudan curriculum

22. The pattern of words goes from
Single vowel words to double vowel and double consonant words.
After that words move onto “spelling across the curriculum”.
These include:
1. Country names
2. Languages
3. Names from science, social studies, science and mathematics
4. Sports and exercise words
This section also includes generally misspelled words and trick words
These are not words you would have prepared!

23. Spelling Bee:
Spellers must spell each letter. They may not use “double” or
any other shorthand in their spelling.
If a word is unclear to a contestant, he or she may ask for the
word to be re-pronounced, defined or used in a sentence.
Once a contestant has begun to spell a word, he or she may not
ask for a word to be re-pronounced, defined or used in a
sentence.
The competition will continue until we have the winners

24. Adjudication Information
1. Adjudicators for this competition are expected to be available to judge all
competitive rounds. As with any other competition, judges will be allocated to each
round based on experience level.
2. There will ONLY be independent judges not affiliated with any of the participating
schools.
3. There will be either two (most likely) or three (less likely) judges per round,
depending on the availability of our volunteer judges.
4. Ranking will be based on points, i.e. for each category win, a team gains a point and
not necessarily the total marks of individual team members.
5. For example, if a team wins all four categories (Spelling Bee 1, Quiz 1, Speech 1,
Debate 1) in a match, it gains 4 points for it - If you lose a category, you get 0 points.

25. General Rules:
1. The tab (sheet with results from the competition) will be
released after every match where speakers will be able to see
the rankings, results from the rounds and speaker scores in
each round.
2. Teams are expected to be punctual. Teams who do not arrive
at the expected time (30 minutes before schedule) will be
removed from the round.
3. Teams are also expected to join that match once their prep
time is finished. Teams who fail to do this will also forfeit that
round.

26. Appeals procedure:
1. When there is a dispute, the organizers (EFSS) as appropriate will make every effort
to resolve matters by reconciliation.
2. It is possible that such means will fail, and the dispute is such that penalties are
appropriate but not specifically defined by the General Regulations for the
Competition. Then the organizers shall have discretionary power to impose
penalties. This should seek to maintain discipline and offer other solutions which
may satisfy the offended parties.
3. In the competition, there shall be an Appeals Committee (AC). The Appeals
Committee is appointed before the start of the first round. The Appeals Committee
shall consist of a Chairman, at least two members and, when needed, two reserve
members from EFSS
4. The Chairman, the members and reserve members shall, if possible, be
independent. No member of the Appeals Committee involved in the dispute shall
rule in that dispute.

27. Appeals procedure:
1. Members of the AC shall not be from any participating school.
2. A team or a registered official representing a team may appeal against any ruling
made by the Chief Adjudicator or one of their assistants. Such an official may include
the team’s captain, head coach or other person as defined here.
3. An appeal shall be accompanied by a letter and submitted in written form not later
than 24 hours after the round.
4. The decisions of the Appeals Committee (AC) shall be final. The team’s loss maybe
overturned if the appeal is successful.
5. The team may also gain extra points if the appeal is unsuccessful but considered
reasonable in the view of the committee.

28. Adjudication Score Sheets
DEBATEMARKINGSHEET.docx
QUIZSCORESHEET.docx
SPELLINGBEESCORESHEET.docx

29. General Rules
Each school will be given two fixtures in the group stages.
One of these will be ‘home’ competition, where the school
hosts, and one will be ‘away’ where the school travels to
their opponent’s school.
The home team is the proposition side and the away team is
the opposition side (although there can be exceptions for
example, if a school can’t host a competition for some
reason).

30. General Rules
1. It will be the responsibility of visiting schools to transport their
teams to the host school at least 30 minutes before the
competition starts.
2. The host school shall supply the event moderator (Chairperson)
and timekeeper; the visiting school shall supply the secretary.
3. The organisers of the Juba Schools Mini competition (EFSS) will
assign the judges (Chief Judge and one or two assistants).
4. As a kind gesture, host schools can always provide visitors with
water (and maybe biscuits) - contact teachers can discuss this with
their administrators for early preparation.

31. General Rules
1. Competitions will take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays,
and Thursdays in the morning (9 AM - 12 PM) and in the
afternoon (1 PM - 3 PM)
2. Each school will participate only once weekly.
3. We realise that schools are busy places, and these dates
may not suit everyone.
4. For this reason, if the date does not suit your school, you
are free to rearrange it for any date within the
competition phase, with the agreement of the opposing
school.

32. General Rules:
Participating schools must let the organisers of the Juba
Schools Contest know at least one day before the original
date.
This is very important as we need to have enough time to
recruit our volunteer adjudicators.
Schools must also be aware that we rely on the good will of
our adjudicators and when competitions are cancelled with
little or no notice, it inconveniences our volunteers as well
as staff.

33. General Rules:
The team ranking will be decided by number of wins followed by
speaker scores.
Of the 12 participating schools, the 08 teams will go to knockout the
top 04 to the semifinals, and the best two will battle out in the grand
finale.
When calculating the top speakers, we will use the scores of all
speakers who have spoken at least 03 rounds.
Speaker ranking will be determined based on speaker scores in all
the rounds.

34. Awards:
(a) Champions -
1. Trophy (We’ll retract (take back) two weeks after the grand finale)
2. Cash Prize SSP 70,000
3. Certificate
4. Medals - 10 medals
5. Stationery for 15 team members (2 Books, pen and pencil)
(b) 1st Runners Up (Second Place)
1. Cash Prize SSP 30,000
2. Certificate
3. Stationery for 15 team members (2 Books, pen and pencil)

35. Awards:
A.Best Coach
1. A notebook and pen
2. Cash Prize SSP 10,000
B.All Schools
1. Certificates for 10 team members
2. Certificates for all coaches
3. Certificate of participation for all the schools

36. Grand Finale
A. At the Grand Finale award ceremony, we will be announcing the top
spellers, speakers, winners of both finals, best judge, teacher (coach)
and speakers selected for school teams.
B. We’ll offer refreshments to the teams only at the grand finale. Since
the competition will be during school hours, we advise participating
pupils and teachers to use their regular means of feeding.
C. We’ll ONLY provide transport for all participating school teams totaling
14 each (both pupils and teachers), to the venue of the Grand Finale.
D. Few Guests will be invited including head teachers from participating
schools