President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has described the achievements of Ghanaian students in international competitions as encouraging and an indication that something good is happening in the country’s educational system.
He has consequently urged Ghanaian students to continue to demonstrate credible ambassadorial credentials on the international stage when the opportunity comes in order to lift high the flag of Ghana.
The President made the call last Tuesday at the Jubilee House in Accra when he interacted with students of the Methodist Girls Senior High School at Mamfe Akuapem and the Aduman Senior High School in the Ashanti Region who recently won awards in different international competitions.
The schools picked up awards in South Africa for the solutions they proferred in line with the SDGs.
The Methodist Girls students were adjudged the 5th best among 30 countries, including 15 from Africa, while the Aduman SHS students won three gold medals in the competition which was on the 17 goals of the SDGs.
The students who represented the Methodist Girls SHS were Ashley Yanteh, Benedicta Akpah, Lily Cornelius and Jessica Owusu, while Selina Yeboah, Gideon Akagla, Godwin Sarfo Kwarteng and Berchie Gideon represented the Aduman SHS.
Congrats
President Akufo-Addo congratulated the students on holding the flag of the country aloft, saying they represented the future of Ghana.
He said the achievements, which he described as impressive, were special moments for him, especially when he was the UN Secretary General’s Co-Chair of the Eminent Group of Advocates for the SDGs.
“I am particularly happy to see that the awareness of the SDGs was penetrating the educational system and that the students were also responding by finding solutions that will advance the SDG set of goals,” he added.
The President urged the students to strive to attain more laurels and encouraged them to do more because Ghana needed their enthusiasm, brains and brilliance.
Sage
The Coordinator for Sage Ghana, Mr Jonathan Nsebo, said the organisation helped the students to identify problems in the SDGs after which they came up with solutions which prepared them well for the competitions.
Awards
With the help of a company called Providing Aid for Human Advancement (PAHA), students of the Methodist Girls High School converted bamboo into a water fountain that gave a soothing sound.
The fountain moisturised the air and also produced negative ion which neutralised positive ion which is bad for human health.
The students’ invention covered 10 sustainable SDGs and they won three of them.
Students of Aduman SHS, for their part, created awareness of and recycled plastic waste into valuable items in line with mainly goal six of the SDGs.
They also run an education exercise to stop the littering of the environment and through that they won three medals.
