Mount Zion Methodist Junior High School (JHS) in the Yamoransa circuit was on Friday adjudged the winner of the fourth edition of the World Federation of Youth Clubs (WFYC) Maths and Science Quiz Competition organized by an education initiative called Boys and Girls Club of Ghana, Anomabo.
They beat Anomabo Methodist JHS “A” and Abonko M/A JHS to emerge the winner in the competition organized in honour of Glenn Permuy, senior executive for enhancement and innovation at WFYC.
The competition was organized for schools in some selected circuits in the Mfantseman Municipality of the Central Region.
In all, 24 basic schools participated in the preliminaries through to the semi-final with the trio schools making it to the grand finale.
At the end of the four rounds of watertight Maths and Science questions, the champions, Mount Zion Methodist JHS, bagged 53 points while Anomabo Methodist JHS “A” secured 38 points to place first runner-up and Abonko M/A JHS, second runner-up with 18 points.
Anomabo Methodist JHS “A” was in the lead after the first two rounds, indicating that they would carry the day until Mount Zion Methodist gave them a hard knock in the last two rounds to emerge victorious.
Speaking on the theme of the competition, “Promoting Critical Thinking and Problem-solving Skills at Basic School Level: The Role of STEM Education”, the main speaker for the event, Dr Patrick Essien, a lecturer at the University of Cape Coast Physics Department, called on the government to focus on prioritizing and resourcing the basic schools in the country.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Molex Foundation Africa, the government’s seeming neglect of the country’s basic schools was unacceptable.
“I am not by this saying that the government should stop resourcing the second cycle and the tertiary institutions but in everything, the foundation is very important so why then do you turn a blind eye to the foundation? We are in the era of STEM education, a very fantastic initiative but the bigger question is are we really implementing it the way it should be while our basic schools lack libraries and Science laboratories for practical?”
He suggested that the government put up at least one fully furnished science laboratory and or a library for each district and provide a bus to convey pupils in that district occasionally there to have their practicals.
On her part, the head of the Inspectorate at the Mfantseman Municipal Education directorate, Mrs Edwina Gladys Thompson Donkoh, who was the chairperson for the event called on all teachers to upgrade themselves by doing more research to abreast themselves with the 21st century teaching experience to make the STEM education a reality.
“We are living in a dynamic world and we can all testify that God has endowed our current pupils with great talents that we the teachers need to push them further. The STEM education has come to stay, I mean Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics… this is going to make our pupils the future medical doctors, engineers, pharmacists and bankers so teachers, a 21st-century teacher is the one who does more research, using new technology and IT to teach so please let’s all adopt that to help our pupils and the country,” Mrs Thompson Donkoh appealed.
Each of the contestants from the three competing schools was presented with sets of note and exercise books and a certificate of merit with their respective schools receiving cash prizes ranging from GH¢400.00 to GH¢700.00.
The champions were in addition, given the ultimate trophy.
Story: Kojo Ata Kakrah Abrowah (anthonyabrowah@gmail.com)//newsalertgh.com
