Father Morin Junior High School has won a quiz competition organized by the Catholic Education Unit of the Navrongo- Bolgatanga Catholic Diocese.
The quiz competition dubbed the Girl Club Project Quiz, forms part of various activities being organized by the education unit of the Diocese in a bid to improve academic performance and drastically reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy in the schools.
As part of the quiz competition held in the early days of July 2024, 12 schools including St. John’s JHS in Bolgatanga, Apaatanga JHS in the Bongo District, Worikambo JHS, St. John Bosco’s JHS in the Kassena Nankana Municipality, Baloo JHS in the Kassena Nankana West District, Yaama JHS and St. Joseph JHS in Walewale participated in the exercise.
The rest of the schools are, Farinsa JHS in Builsa North District, Baasa JHS in Builsa South, Logre JHS in Nabdam, Kongo JHS also in Nabdam and Fr. Morin JHS from Garu.
The girl-centered quiz competition involved three rounds with the first round being one that saw the girls from the various schools present findings from a field trip they embarked on to a place of interest in their locality for points.
Five schools including Farinsa, JHS, Baloo JHS, St. John’s JHS, St. John Bosco’s JHS, and Fr. Morin JHS then qualified for the final two rounds which saw the girls answer questions on certain topics with the last round bothering on general knowledge.
At the end of the competition, Fr. Morin JHS won with 41 points and was followed closely by Farinsa JHS which placed second with 39 points. Third place went to St. John’s JHS with 37.7 points, Baloo JHS had 36.7 to place 4th, and St. John Bosco’s JHS had 33.7 to place 5th.
Speaking to the media moments after winning the competition, Emelda Yahaya Yenutim, who spoke on behalf of her colleagues, expressed excitement over their victory having come from an area considered to be remote.
She called for support for girls especially those who have special needs to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy.
“We are all happy that we won. Coming from Garu, no one thought that we would win this competition but we have come to dispel the view that it is only in the towns that bright children reside. We want to call on parents and other organizations to help girls, especially in the rural areas to get the best of education,” she appealed
Sister Bernadine Pemii, Regional Manager, of the Catholic Education Unit explained that quiz competition is part of various activities to reduce teenage pregnancy.
She noted that the unit recorded 68 pregnancies in 21 schools hence the introduction of the project to reduce teenage pregnancy, increase enrollment, and retain the girls in school.
Now in the third and final year of the implementation of the project with support from Misean Cara, Sister Bernadine noted that no teenage pregnancy case has been recorded in all 119 schools where the project is being implemented with the completion rate significantly increasing.
“The quiz is the last of the programs we have on activities for the girl child and the various activities have so far led to the reduction in teenage pregnancy. Many of the girls are now completing junior high school and this is something we are excited about,” she stated.
