University Practice Senior High School emerged winners of the first-ever Agri-Brain Challenge Inter-School Quiz Competition held in commemoration of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the School of Agriculture.
The quiz, which was to arouse the interest of second cycle institutions students to pursue agriculture at the tertiary level, had diverse questions from soil science, animal science, agriculture engineering and the practical aspects.
After a keen contest, University Practice SHS took the first position, while the second and third position went to Mfantsiman Girls SHS and Aggrey Memorial SHS, respectively.
Some students and teachers at the event
St. Augustine College, Assin Manso SHS, and Jukwa Senior High School earned deserving positions.
For their prizes, the winning school took home a trophy, an undisclosed amount of money and certificates.
The schools which placed second and third were each rewarded with undisclosed amounts of money.
The Chairman of the 50th anniversary Planning Committee and Head of Department of Animal Science, Prof. Julius Hagan, said the interest in the study of agriculture in senior high school and tertiary had declined considerably.
“So as a School we thought it wise to whip up the interest amongst young people to study agriculture in secondary school hence the quiz competition,” he added.
He said the selection of the schools was based on proximity and the agriculture programme offered at the schools.
Prof. Hagan congratulated the winners and wished the other better luck in the next edition.
He encouraged the students to take agriculture seriously, stressing: "Education is not only about what you learn in the classroom. It is also about applying knowledge to real-life situations. You have learned a lot about agriculture through this quiz competition now, go out and put that knowledge into action," he said.
The Dean of the School of Agriculture, Prof. Henry Degraft Acquah, in a brief remark, commended the participants for their excellent intellectual display in the competition.
Prof. Henry Degraft Acquah
He assured the students of the School's commitment and readiness to support them to pursue agriculture at the tertiary level.
The Quiz Master, Prof. Michael Adu, congratulated the contestants and urged the organisers to expand the competition to allow more schools to compete in the subsequent ones.
Prof. Michael Adu
The winners of the competition expressed their gratitude to the organisers of the programme for giving them the opportunity to acquire more knowledge about agriculture.
They also thanked their teachers for the achievement, and added that, “other students should take advantage of such opportunities to learn new things and win prizes for themselves.”