An impressive SHS challenge
It has been a torrid Sunday evening, with my phone ringing non-stop and my WhatsApp messages buzzing with alerts. I ignored most of them because the purpose of those calls was obvious.
My beloved Opoku Ware School has crashed out of the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) at the semi-final stage, and suddenly people I have not heard from in ages are all crawling out of the woodwork to have a go at me for the loud noises I often make about my school.
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Particularly in our 70th anniversary year, and 20 years since we last lifted the trophy, we were hopeful of the drought coming to an end. But it was not meant to be. Between Presec (Legon), Adisadel College and Prempeh College, I am still working it out in my head which school to support in the final competition. Adisadel edged us out, so I cannot possibly support them. At the same time, I would rather the cup stayed away from the coast, lest it gets rusty due to the salty ocean air, so I guess that leaves both Presec and Adisadel out.
Prempeh College is our arch rival, making support for them stick in the gut as a matter of course. I have a dilemma, dear reader.
However, some time ago, when I joined my boss, Energy Minister, Dr Prempeh (a.k.a NAPO), to pay a courtesy call on the Asantehene at Manhyia Palace and I was introduced to Otumfuo, he remarked that he had noted my virulent anti-Prempeh College social media campaign in favour of Keta Senior High School (Ketasco) ahead of the 2021 final contest.
Let us just say I took quasi-judicial notice and that I stand advised accordingly. Silence is indeed golden.
Renewable Energy Challenge
Whilst the nation’s attention has been fixated on the twists and turns of the competition as the race heated up and salty tears of joy and pain coursed down various cheeks, an interesting and very exciting competition took place relatively quietly last Friday at the Accra International Conference Centre.
It was the final competition of the third edition of the Energy Commission’s Senior High School (SHS) Renewable Energy Challenge under the theme ‘Clean Cooking and Food Processing Using Renewable Energy Technologies’. The six finalist schools were Business SHS, Tamale; Ghana Secondary Technical School (GSTS), Takoradi; Yaa Asantewaa Girls SHS, Kumasi; Bolgatanga Girls SHS, Nkoranza Technical Institute and Kpedze SHS in the Volta Region.
Participating schools were expected to develop projects in the area of either clean cooking or food processing using renewable energy technologies, with new product innovations, accessories to products or digital innovations to improve the performances and/or efficiencies of existing projects in the above-mentioned areas.
In the area of clean cooking, the focus was on either improved cookstoves or fuels, while for food processing, the teams were to focus on how renewable energy could be utilised in the food processing chain such as food preservation.
The challenge was open to all second cycle schools in the country and each region had the opportunity to present the best ten schools to compete in the regional competitions, following which the six schools qualified from two national zones for the grand finale.
Impressive affair
It was quite an exciting event, with each school team taking turns to come on stage to make a presentation about their project, which included what its purpose was in terms of what it sought to address, its expected economic impact and other related matters.
A practical demonstration would then be made by the team, following which they would take questions from the panel of judges.
What impressed many in the auditorium, as the teams went through their paces, was the confidence and depth of knowledge of these young students, as well as the practicality and relevance of what they demonstrated and sought to achieve.
This reflected in the wild cheering and applause that each team received in turn after their delivery. I was definitely bowled over.
What surprised me was that prior to the day, I had no idea this competition existed, but then I suppose it is still in its early stages, this being only the 3rd edition.
At the end of it all, Kpedze SHS emerged winners, walking away to loud applause, with GH¢10,000.00, a 5kW solar PV complete system, 25 solar wall light pieces and 30 streetlights to the school. In addition, the six team members (including two tutors) each received GH¢3,000.00, a laptop, two pieces of solar lamps and one solar fan. Yaa Asantewaa SHS and Nkoranza Technical took silver and bronze places, respectively. Each team walked away with handsome prizes.
Energy awareness
Beyond the competitiveness and the bragging rights and handsome prizes that come with it, the aspect of effective awareness creation on clean cooking in particular, and renewable energy in general, is perhaps the most significant. Indeed, the aim of the Energy Commission in establishing this project in 2019 was to foster an interest in renewable energy among students of second cycle institutions.
Early-stage awareness on this issue, properly executed, in turn, has the prospect of impacting behaviour and choices well into adulthood.
As Dr Prempeh noted in his address read on his behalf by the Deputy Minister, Andrew Mercer, at the event, the prevalent usage of polluting energy sources such as kerosene, wood fuel and charcoal has dire effects on lives, world economies and the planet as a whole.
So far, a total of 304,000 biomass cookstoves have been distributed across the country, with a goal to distribute 3million by the year 2030.
The SHS challenge on clean cooking feeds squarely into the country’s energy transition plan which is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Energy under the direction of Dr Prempeh, with extensive regional and stakeholder engagement to feed into the plan.
The global conversation on energy transition from fossil fuels and toward clean energy, of which clean cooking is an important part, continues unabated.
Education challenge
Time without number, many have complained that our education system tends to promote rote learning (‘chew, pour, pass and forget’) rather than innovative thinking and applied knowledge. Indeed, this has been a recurring observation each year during the NSMQ, and Quiz Mistress Prof. Elsie Kauffman has had cause to echo these sentiments in the past.
I think that the NSMQ is a brilliant fixture on our second cycle school landscape that has sparked a great deal of interest in science and has inspired many young people in so many ways since its establishment over two decades ago. Long may it flourish with each passing year, hopefully with more girls and less endowed schools being able to make it to the ultimate stage.
That said, I believe there is space in the firmament for other competitions that allow young students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of other aspects of human endeavour in practical, demonstrable ways.
Congratulations to Kpedze SHS for their well-earned victory. I do hope the challenge gets more oxygen, by way of publicity, as the years go by and that it establishes itself, eventually, in the minds of many.
Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng,
Head, Communications & Public Affairs Unit,
Ministry of Energy,
Accra.
E-mail: [email protected]