Accra, Jan. 27, GNA – Osu Home, a basic school in the La Dadekotopon Municipality (LaDMA), has won the 2021 National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) Smart Governors Challenge competition for basic schools in the Greater Accra Region.
They beat three other basic schools from the Ga Central Municipality to emerge winners of the constitution quiz competition.
Osu Home amassed 38 points followed by Standard Foundation who garnered 36 points to finish as the 1st runner-up.
The 2nd and 3rd runners-up were Mystical Rose and Anointed Academy respectively after series of tie breaking questions.
The two were both tied on 33 points at the end of a three-round competitive event.
The winners received a cash prize of GHC 3,000 from GOIL Company, a plaque, gold medals for all participants and tutors, certificates, twenty copies of the 1992 Constitution and a hamper from Pomasidor Ghana Limited.
The 1st runner-up took home GHC 2,000 as cash prize, silver medals, a hamper, certificates and twenty copies of the 1992 Constitution, while the third and fourth schools received cash prizes of GHC 1,500 and GHC 1,000 respectively, medals, hampers, certificates, and copies of the Constitution.
The Smart Governor Challenge sought to project the relevance of the 1992 Constitution to the youth and instil in them a sense of civic duty for development.
The annual competition was also to draw active citizenship from the students and enable them to participate in sustaining Ghana’s democracy.
Ms Josephine Nkrumah, Chairperson of NCCE, in an interview with the media at the end of the competition, said understanding the tenets of the constitution was important in enhancing the country’s democratic credentials.
She said it was, therefore, important for Ghanaians to take interest in studying and understanding the provisions of the constitution, particularly at an early age.
“The Constitution Quiz is part of the strategies NCCE use to execute our core mandates, which is basically to educate Ghanaians on the principles and objectives of the constitution in order for us to engender civic mindedness from the citizenry,” Ms Nkrumah emphasised.
She praised NCCE directors from the six competing districts—Ga Central, Ablekuma North, La Dadekotopon, and Ashaiman—for the commitment to the success of the competition.
While commending Goil Ghana, Papaye and Pomasidor Ghana Limited for their support, Ms Nkrumah appealed to other corporate organisations to come on board to enable NCCE expand the competition and make it a national event.
Dr Evans Aggrey-Darkoh, the Chief Director at the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, described the competition as the best way to nurture the youth to become responsible citizens to consolidate the country’s democratic gains.
“Stability is important,” he said, adding that, “It is not for nothing that under the fourth republic we have actually seen 30 years of political dispensation since 1992, and it is the longest, the most stable and if we want to maintain that stability then we need to encourage the rank and file, the entire citizenry to appreciate the basic tenet of constitutionalism, the basic tenet of democracy.”
Mr Aggrey-Darkoh encouraged the Commission to replicate the competition across the country to empower all to become responsible citizens.
GNA