NSMQ Mistress Recounts How She Got The Role And Its Demands

Professor Elsie Kaufmann, the National Science and Maths Quiz Mistress has recounted how she got hooked onto the popular high school quiz contest in Ghana.

In an interview on the Delay Show, she recalled she was working with the Physics department of the University of Ghana, Legon, when her boss brought the contest to her knowledge.

At the time, she said, the first host of the contest, Marian Ewurama Addy, was exiting to undertake her PhD which meant that a new host was needed.

“When I came to Ghana in 2001, I was working at the Physics Department of University of Ghana. In 2005, my head of department called to inform me there was a search for a host. They were looking for a quiz mistress because the quiz mistress then was leaving to undertake her PhD so they needed a replacement.”

She believes she was introduced to the opportunity because of her hard work at the University.

Highlighting her role as the quiz mistress, she said, “We have four subject consultants for Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics. Their role is to set questions. After that we attend a moderation meeting and peruse through all the questions. As the quiz mistress, I sit with them to evaluate the questions they’ve set. We have to correct mistakes in the questions. After that I take the questions home and go through them again”.

Prof Kaufmann admitted that the intelligence of some of the students she meets sometimes amazes her.

She attended Aburi Girls and then left the country to the United Kingdom to study at the United World College of the Atlantic. She then proceeded to the United States of America where she obtained higher education.

Source: opensuo.com/Hajara Fuseini