Winners of a debate competition in which 12 schools around Kigali contested will receive free English courses by Cambridge International College.

The spelling bee competition conducted in English and Kinyarwanda languages saw Allan Rutayisire from Lycee De Kigali and Cynthia Mukayisenga form Kigali Christian School emerge top of others.

Richard Kaweesi the executive director of Brain Teasers called on more schools to participate since the competition improves students vocabulary.

"When students participate in these competitions they come across different words which they use to construct sentences and therefore improve their vocabulary and instil confidence in them,” he said.

He added that both winners and losers learn a lot from the spelling competition.

"Some schools were afraid of competing with other schools but this is not about winning only but what the students learn from the competition,” added Kaweesi.

Meanwhile, Modeste Nsanzabaganwa, the director of Kinyarwanda language, at Rwanda Academy of Language And Culture noted that as a result of such competitions proficiency in both languages continues to improve.

"Although there are quite a number of subjects in school, languages go hand in hand with other subjects. Learning them will enable students improve their vocabulary because it is important that they know all languages perfectly without confusing them,” he said.

The spelling bee competition was started by Brain Teasers Rwanda. It begun last year with an aim of helping students improve their vocabulary in English.

This year Kinyarwanda language was introduced and organizers hope to include French on the list come 2017.