National Juniors Challenge Competition Launched

By Alfred Nii Arday Ankrah

The 2018/2019 edition of the National Juniors Challenge (NJC) Quiz Competition, to promote critical and analytical thinking of students in junior high schools, has been launched in Accra.

The competition is a Ghana Education Service and the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition recognised television and radio reality educational programme.

It seeks to promote the critical and analytical thinking ability of students at the basic education level in solving problems and how they could use the knowledge acquired in the classroom to help develop society.

The 2018/2019 edition of the competition would only include schools in Accra, however, in subsequent years, other regions would be included.

Mr Wisdom Larry Quarme-Doe, the Chief Executive Officer of Euniwiz Group, organisers of the competition, noted that pupils could also become superstars via education-based television and radio competitions.

"The Ghanaian media today is gradually being used as a platform to portray to children that one can only become popular through rapping, singing, acting and dancing and that the classroom can never make one a super star," he said.

"It is our desired efforts to give the children of Ghana the opportunity to showcase their intellects to the world, develop them for the future and also help to erase the above misconception from the minds of our future generation," he said.

Mr Quarme-Doe said the event was unique as it is the first of its kind in the country.

"This is important because for so many years now, so much attention has been given to students at the second cycle institution to the neglect of those at the basic level," he stated.

"This I think is highly unfortunate because the success of our educational system begins at the basic level and so if much attention is given to our brothers and sisters at the basic level, it will go a long way to improve the standard of education in the country."

He explained that the challenge would afford teachers, especially those who teach Mathematics, Integrated Science, English Language and Social Studies at the basic level, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their students so as to map out strategies for effective teaching.

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