Winners of the 2023 STEMNNOVATION competition, organized by the Free Senior High School Secretariat of the Ministry of Education, travelled to Japan over the weekend.
The five students and an official of the Education Ministry will be out of the country for one week. While in Japan, they will participate in an international STEM competition, engage with their student counterparts in Japan, and share as well as learn new ideas and skills toward their education.
The students comprise Malinda Josephine Owusuaa Antiri, Salomey Akpene. Atsrim-Ferguson and Benedicta Amoah from Ahafoman Secondary/Technical School, 1st place winners, as well as Agordo-Kafui Caleb and Stephen Mills Kofi Asante Ahenkan from Wesley Grammar, who were the runners-up.
During the grand finale of the competition held in Accra, the Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, pledged that the winners of the competition would be sponsored to travel to Japan as part of their prize.
The trip by the students was in fulfillment of the promise made by Dr. Adutwum during the climax of the competition to motivate the students to take a keen interest in STEM education as well as the competition.
Farewell
Addressing the students before their departure in Accra, a Deputy DirectorGeneral at the Ghana Education Service, Mr. Stephen Owusu, described the feat chalked by the students as very unique.
He explained that the fact that the winners of the competition were from various parts of the country attested to the fact that the nation’s education is on the right trajectory.
The Deputy Director was particularly happy that the winners of the competition were not from the famous schools in the country, adding that with the current state of education in the country, education outcomes in all schools no longer depends on the location of the school.
Mr. Owusu lauded Dr. Adutwum for the various interventions he had introduced into the nation’s education space with the view of making students study hard for the development of the right manpower for the nation and the rest of the world.
For his part, the Director of Innovation at the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), David Ampofo, assured to continue supporting the STEMNNOVATION competition to help students unearth their hidden talents and skills toward solving challenges confronting their communities and the nation as a whole.
He pledged to create an opportunity for the winners to have access to its Innovative Hubs near their schools so they could develop their skills and innovations to enhance their chances of commercializing it for the nation’s benefit.
Background
Three female contestants who represented the Ahafoman SHTS, a mixed school, surprised the whole nation in November last year with an amazing presentation on a project on flexible use of electricity, where they generate electrical power through a locally modified generator and accumulator connected to a solar panel to power a plant-based incubator.
For emerging winners, Ahafoman SHTS took home an amount of Gh50,000 cash from the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), a desktop computer donated by Omega Computers, Gh20,000 life insurance cover from Glidco Insurance company, medals STEM textbooks.
Wesley Grammar SHS received GHS 30,000 cash prize, a laptop, and a printer for being second, whereas, third-placed Bosomtwe Girls’ had GHS20,000 cash prize, a laptop and a printer.
Apart from the trip to Japan, the three girls from Ahafoman were also promised a four-year full scholarship in any Engineering University in Ghana after their secondary education.
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