I like to believe that I have quite a strong and resilient heart, but when it comes to the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) final involving my beloved Opoku Ware School, a certain sense of nervousness settles over me, and I find myself unable to watch the contest live, my confidence notwithstanding.
Boast before story
After 22 years of NSMQ championship drought and our tenth final appearance with only two championship titles to our name, I shared a strong sense of confidence within our fraternity that this would be our year. Even my friends from our fierce rivals, Prempeh College, seemed to find some genuine goodwill to throw our way.
The night before the final, I called my youngest brother, Francis, who attended Mfantsipim School, to run my mouth and issue all manner of threats of annihilation.
I threatened that we would snatch the trophy from the two Cape Coast Schools in the final (St. Augustine’s College being the other) and that by the time they recovered from their daze, we would be at Assin Fosu, speeding towards Kumasi with the trophy and some soft Yamoransa kenkey with deep-fried octopus.
I raved and ranted and bullied, using my big brother powers, for I am 13 long years older than him.
He laughed politely and simply said, ‘We dey, we go see’. Ah!! I ranted some more.
Gods are not to blame
On Thursday, however, the stars seemed not to be aligned in our favour, and by the end of the second round, blurry writings had begun to appear on the wall.
From there, things could only turn worse. I could literally see my brother Francis smirking.
Eventually, our worst fears came to pass.
We had lost another final ‒ the third in five years. I braced myself for the jibes and barbs on social media, especially those truly annoying ones from people whose schools have never even appeared on the national stage.
But then, they say, when the elephant falls, every beast, big and small, feels entitled to its supposed pound of flesh.
So one simply had to endure.
I steeled myself and called Francis to congratulate him. He broke into a long guffaw as soon as he picked up the call.
I quietly and graciously allowed him a few minutes of gloating and taunting, then reminded him sternly that he was speaking to his big brother.
I needed to rein him in and reclaim my dignity very quickly.
I added that the trophy was not even nice and was not the key to heaven.
“We like am like that,” he retorted. These young men of today!
Mankranso, Amaniampong magic moments
Since its inception in 1994, the NSMQ has been won in each year of competition by a Category A boys’ school, the only exception being Achimota School, a Category A mixed school.
The predictable dominance by these ‘A’ schools means that whenever schools outside this category boot out a top school or power their way to the final, it is a blast of fresh air.
Everyone sits up, and they earn quite some praise and a certain ‘underdog’ support, even if many know their chances of clinching the trophy are slim.
In 2024, for instance, Keta Senior High Technical School reached the final, while West Africa SHS also made a final appearance in 2018. University Practice SHS in Cape Coast also made it to the final in 2015.
While they fell short of reaching the final this year, two Ashanti Region schools, Amaniampong SHS and Mankranso SHS, both trounced far better-known names to reach the semi-final, to the wild acclaim and quite above the expectation of the schools’ contestants themselves.
Suddenly, TV cameras invaded the Mankranso SHS campus to bring us images of the sorry state of their science laboratories. Academic City University College stepped up to offer Blessed Oforiwaa Nsiah of the school a full scholarship worth $40,000.00 for her stellar performance.
The MP for the Ahafo Ano South West Constituency, Elvis Osei Mensa-Dapaa, in whose constituency the school is situated, visited the school and promised to help.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Ahafo Ano South West, Mr Abubakar Sedik, also visited the school, donated GHS10,000 and promised to fully equip its physics laboratory and give the school a full paint facelift.
These stories lift the heart, and I hope the two schools get all the support they deserve. I do not agree with those who suggest that the competition should be organised at Category A, B and C levels, because it will decimate the contest. I think it is only a matter of time before a Category B school wins the trophy.
Capturing young minds
In a conversation over the weekend with a friend, we both agreed that many of the top, brilliant young minds that have featured in the NSMQ over the years have subsequently found themselves in top universities abroad.
Whilst that in itself is not a bad thing and one cannot blame these young boys and girls, this means we seem to be a production factory and a conveyor belt as far as top minds are concerned.
He suggested that it would be a great idea if, after every year’s contest, all competitors from, say, the quarter final stage upwards could be invited to a two-week camp hosted by the Ministry of Education at one of our universities to interact with some of the top scientific minds in the country as a way of mentoring them and nurturing their brilliant minds, with scholarship offers in our local universities.
Even with foreign scholarships, he believed there was a much higher chance of the beneficiaries returning after their studies to help build the country.
I think it is a brilliant suggestion that merits consideration as a matter of policy.
I strongly believe that several alumni bodies have, over the years, received pleas for financial assistance from past contestants of their schools to enrol in our local universities.
Meanwhile, I am almost at the final stage of grief, which is acceptance. I will be fine.
Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng.
E-mail: rodboat@yahoo.com
