System Determines What Our Students Do with What They study; Prof Kaufmann Shoots Down “Chew And Pour” Tag Attached To NSMQ

Facilitator for the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ), Elsie Effah Kaufmann has reacted to critics who say NSMQ is all about memorization otherwise known as “chew and pour” and therefore not impactful to our national development.

Shooting down the notion, she said such critics have an already formed opinion and “may not be paying attention”.

“Sometimes people talk without analysing the types of questions we ask. These days we have a lot of application questions. Look at the final, when we ask you about why the mucosal barrier is there, is it “chew and pour”? You see they couldn’t answer. Yes, our students have issues with applications and we are doing our best to give them application questions… We are trying very hard. The consulting team works really hard to come up with these questions.”

In an interview on the sidelines of Primetime Limited’s- organisers NSMQ- courtesy call at the Manhyia Palace on October 28, the quiz mistress asserted that Ghana is blessed with brilliant people, however, the system determines the purpose that the education they acquire serves.

“In order to develop our country, yes it’s application but if we don’t have a foundation… The concepts that these students learn are the same thing our colleagues in other countries are learning and are able to develop. The thing is they harness that knowledge, they know why they are studying those things and for what purpose.

“For us, if we make it just about certificates, that’s what they will do. Our students are very bright but the system is what will determine what they do with what they study. So if there is no opportunity to harness the knowledge that they are getting to practical application {and} solving the problems of Ghana, why will they do so? If what they see is the certificate, that is what they are going to go for.”

Prof Kaufmann further pointed out that the role of NSMQ is to fish out the country’s talents and present them to the world- an advantage she observes foreign countries are making use of.

“What the NSMQ does is to identify our top talents. We’ve now identified them. Do you think other countries were not watching? The next thing you see, all of them are going outside for university. They will admit them and when they graduate out there, they don’t come back.

“The same theories they learnt here that is what they go and use there and learn further and you see them developing other countries but not Ghana…We identify talents, and they go off and become great people in other people’s countries helping to solve other people’s problems and not ours.”

She believes it is high time Ghana took advantage of its talents.

“So what we should be thinking about is what are we doing in Ghana to attract our people back? Even if they go study outside, what are we doing to attract them back?”

Out of the nine contestants who made it to the 2021 NSMQ grand finale, three are out of the country to continue their studies.

An NSMQ publication in April this year reported that Eden Nana Kyei Obeng who was part of Prempeh College’s Contestants is now studying at the California Institute of Technology; Prince Debrah Appiah Jnr of PRESEC-Legon gained admissions into fourteen U.S. universities in one application cycle out which he was to choose one; and Francisca Lamini of Keta SHTS is studying at the Harvard University.

This year’s competition saw an increase in the number of participating schools from 135 to 144, Primetime Limited Coordinator, Stephen Yankey told opemsuo.com.

Presbyterian Secondary School (PRESEC-Legon) emerged the winner in the end after a highly competitive final with Prempeh College-the defending champions then- and Adisadel College.

Mr Yankey described the grand finale as the type they wished to see always.

“On Wednesday people saw the final that featured Presbyterian Boys Secondary School, Prempeh College and Adisadel College. I think it’s the kind of final that we expect to see every year. PRESEC was keen to win their seventh trophy, Prempeh College was aiming to make it six to equal Presec’s record at the time and ADISCO was chasing their second trophy.”

Expressing her satisfaction with the outcome of the result, Prof Kaufmann said each school has a chance of winning when it makes it to the grand finale.

“If a school can make it to the final, they have a good chance of becoming the champion. Even before the contest, I remember congratulating all the three schools that made it to finals. It’s not a surprise. At that level, it’s just a school having a better day than the other…They are all amazing schools and amazing contestants.”

She observed that schools that participated in the competition had difficulties in answering questions under Mechanics- something she says helps shape teaching and learning in the classroom.

“Some of the issues they had was with physics. With physics, we realised that the schools haven’t been doing too well with Mechanics so we were hammering on the Mechanics and you could tell that they couldn’t answer those very well. What happens when we do that is that it encourages the learning of the topics that they are not able to tackle and that is how the National Science and Maths Quiz has been able to have an impact on education: by directing the teachers on what to teach and students on what to learn.”

John Anim Tenkorang, one of PRESEC’s contestants told opemsuo.com that winning the trophy was a dream come through.

“It was a dream come through for me. Right from infancy when I used to watch the quiz with my parents I had that zeal even though I didn’t know what was going on. And on coming to SHS, I made it a point to join and by the grace of God I made it and we won the trophy.”

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini