The winners beaming with deserving smiles
SERWAA KESSE Girls Senior High School at Duayaw Nkwanta at Tano North District of Ahafo Region has once again emerged as the national best school in Business Pitch Competition, beating 14 other schools to it.
The competitors, all SHS 2 students; Priscilla Agyemang Yeboah, Millicent Kusi Adjei, Lois Yeboah and Sabbithina Saah Appiah won the competition by identifying a community problem and using their knowledge in entrepreneurial skills, science and technology to address it.
The school by the feat won the heart of the Education Minister, Yaw Adutwum, who noted that government investment in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education is yielding positive results.
The congratulatory message was carried out in a press release signed by Felix A. Baidoo, Press Secretary to the Education Minister on Monday and read: “I must say that I am super excited for this feat chalked by the four young girls from Serwaa Kesse Girls’ SHS. I can see that our hard work in the STEM education has started yielding good results.”
The competition was organised by Junior Achievers, an NGO which supports individuals and groups to set up their own businesses.
Among the schools that competed were St Augustine SHS, St Francis Girls SHS – Jirapa, Tarkwa SHS, Bolgatanga SHS, Aburi Girls SHS, Presbyterian Boys SHS, and Accra Academy SHS among others.
They developed a solar stove, Seksolin, which harnesses solar energy to do cooking through the conversion of solar energy into electrical energy for clean cooking.
The solar stove also has a rechargeable battery compartment (solar panel) which can be charged and used during sunset or in the absence of a sunny weather.
This is what won the girl school the first position during the national competition held at the Academic City University College at Haatso in the Greater Accra Region.
The winners went home with a prize of GH¢10, 000; Accra Academy placed second.
Authorities of the school appealed to the Education Minister to support the school with computers for its Computer Laboratory and upgrade the facilities required for the STEM project, not forgetting staff accommodation.
The Education Ministry was represented at the competition by the Deputy Minister for Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, who urged the schools to take advantage of such competitions, stressing that he was amazed at the level of knowledge the competing students had exhibited.
The Northern Business School took home the Academic City Excellence in Teamwork Award and the Aburi Girls SHS picked the Tomorrow Foundation Award (Tech – Innovation Award) while PRESEC, Legon, also took home the Project Management Institute Educational Fund Award (Project Management Award).
Additionally, the Gold Fields Ghana Foundation Award (Entrepreneurial Spirit Award) went to Archbishop Porter’s Girls; Northern Business School won the Primetime Limited Award (Excellence in Marketing Award) and Peter Gbedemah won the Public Choice Award.
From Daniel Y Dayee, Duayaw Nkwanta