Nsein SHS House Prefect describes the NSMQ as a show that lacks meaningful values [video]

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The Nsein SHS House Prefect has described the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) as a spectacle that lacks meaningful values. In a country where secondary education is revered as the stepping stone to success, Ms. Richlove Oduro, House Prefect of Nsein Secondary School, presents a thought-provoking theory that challenges the status quo.

According to Ms. Oduro, Ghana’s so-called top secondary schools, traditionally seen as the cradles of academic excellence, are not living up to their revered reputation. She argues that these institutions are relics of colonialism and are misleading the public into believing they are indispensable to academic success.

Ms. Oduro in an interview with goshers_ begins her argument by calling these elite schools “colonial institutions.” She believes they are no longer in true competition for students as they were decades ago.

Today, many of the brightest students in the country, including those who can afford to pay, scramble to gain admission, regardless of the actual value these schools provide.

A critical part of Ms. Oduro’s theory is that these top-tier schools add little value to the students they admit. According to her, the students end up doing most of the work on their own, preparing for exams and passing them without significant contribution from the school’s environment or the teachers. In her view, these schools are not creating learners but are instead relying on the students’ own motivation and resources to succeed.

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She further argues that the differences in academic outcomes between schools are not due to the quality of teaching. The Ghana Education Service (GES), she notes, assigns teachers of equal calibre to all secondary schools across the country. Therefore, she concludes that it is the inherited facilities and inequitable admissions practices that are the real determinants of academic performance.

Ms. Oduro goes on to suggest that this focus on academic competition over holistic education produces graduates who are poorly adjusted for society. She believes that students from these elite schools often emerge as corrupt and venal elites because they have been trained to compete for personal gain rather than to work collaboratively for community building.

In contrast, Nsein Secondary School, according to Ms. Oduro, has taken a different approach. The school consciously avoids the rat race of chasing after top exam scores. Instead, it is focused on grooming “nobles” for nation-building, producing graduates who are well-rounded, community-oriented, and ready to contribute meaningfully to Ghana’s development.

In her closing remarks, Ms. Oduro cautions the public not to be deceived by the facade of the big schools. The academic show they put on, she asserts, is unsustainable and will eventually unravel, exposing their shortcomings.

Ms. Oduro’s theory is a bold challenge to the deeply ingrained perception of secondary education in Ghana. Whether or not one agrees with her, it opens a necessary dialogue about the true purpose of education and what it means to truly prepare students for the future.

Watch the video below: