Ghana: The National Science and Maths Quiz Is a Fun Game

The National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) has undergone a progressive stupor of exciting rivalry which holds the entire nation spellbound in every session of it, since its inception in 1993. Remarkably, the NSMQ has uniquely drawn a multi-allegiant support from students and old students, families and friends, and friendly forces of affiliated alliance, thus directly and indirectly drawing the majority of the Ghanaian populace into it. The NSMQ could be rated only second to the game of football in Ghana.

Undoubtedly, the NSMQ has sparked a relatively high interest in the study of science at the secondary level of education among students. The dexterity, brilliance and showmanship displayed at the sessions demonstrate that Ghana is well-placed in the study of science academically. The paradox, however, is whether this epitome of knowledge is being harnessed for national development. This lends a lead to what the NSMQ aims at.

Genesis of NSMQ

The idea was borne out of a casual reflection on the mystery surrounding a bird's contact with a live electric cable and not culminating in electrocution. Mr Kwaku Mensa-Bonsu, then Managing Director of Primetime Ltd, an education-interest advertising and public relations agency, had gone to play tennis with his buddies, the late Professor Marian Ewurama Addy and Professor Ebenezer Kweku Awotwe, at the tennis court of the University of Ghana, when they spotted a bird standing on an electric cable unperturbed. The question for discussion among them was why the same act of contact from humans would result in electrocution. Prof. Awotwe explained that birds are not good conductors of electricity because their cells and tissues do not contain electrons, which form an easier path. Startled by the scientific exposition, Mr Kwaku Mensa-Bonsu thought that a science and maths quiz programme could help decode some of the everyday science mysteries.

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Action was given to thought, and in 1993, there emerged an NSMQ programme sponsored by Primetime Ltd. Originally known as "Brilla", culled from Brillant Soap, which originally sponsored the programme, the event was re-named the National Science and Maths Quiz when Brillant Soap withdrew its support in 1998. Subsequently, in 2012, the Ghana Education Service, with the assistance of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), took over sponsorship of the programme.

Critique

The objective of the NSMQ, from en.wikipedia.org, 29/11/23, is to "promote the study of the sciences and mathematics, help students develop quick thinking and a probing and scientific mind about the everyday world around them, while fostering healthy academic rivalry among senior high schools". As per its objectives and the goings-on, the NSMQ has not derailed from its course. The NSMQ is just to promote the study of the sciences and mathematics. The NSMQ, even more fascinating, is to foster a healthy academic rivalry among senior high schools.

Perfect!! The NSMQ is on course, though, on a beautiful unproductive course. What happens after all the flamboyant display of that academic knowledge of "sciences and mathematics" and the "healthy academic rivalry" on national television? We make science more important than not, ultimately. Prof Elsie Kaufmann, the fourth and current Quiz Mistress of the NSMQ, laments how these science students "are not able to translate all those theories ... wonderful ideas into useful outcomes". Prof. Kaufmann was speaking in an open interview with KSM on News O'Clock TV, 6/10/21, where she further illustrated that the winning team of the 2018 NSMQ, in a similar competition in Portugal, could not recognise and understand how the science equipment they were given even worked. A further search by the Writers revealed that the Portugal competition was practical-oriented. Our top team from Ghana could not identify transistors and diodes. This is the matter. As a nation, we seem to be interested in the academic splendour and flamboyance of science and its related intellectual prowess, but not in what it does.

The ministerial speech at the grand finale of the 2023 NSMQ on October 30, 2023, at the National Theatre, Accra, was only praiseworthy: commendation for Primetime Ltd, for initiating the NSMQ which had whipped up interest in the study of science and its related programmes among SHS students in Ghana, and commendation for all the contestants from the three schools, stating that "no matter what happens, contestants, you have done well for your schools".

The content of the speech is identical to the objective of the NSMQ, muffled, showing no achievements, and therefore no conscious vision for science in Ghana. One would have expected to hear plans for the receptacle of science in the country. Crime is booming because there is a crime market; church is flourishing because there is belief for the spirit-abstract; politics is financially-rewarding because there is, at least, ex-gratia; Ghana-abroad migration is recurrent because of the power of foreign currency. Science, on the contrary, has no corresponding mapping unto, hence unyielding. There is no proper 'ending' for the good start that has been given to science. There is a high hype for the study, just the study, of science in Ghana, but relatively less attention for its relevance in production.

The first President of Ghana created a conscious receiving end or haven for science and research. This is the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), then the National Research Council (NRC), established in August 1958, which was strategically placed under the presidency, not under any ministry, to accord the President a direct administrative dealing with scientists. Today, the CSIR is one of the matter-of-course constituents of a Ministry with inadequate funding for research. The CSIR employs a relatively greater percentage of scientists. The quantum of support from the government is inversely proportional to the amount of scientific research effort by these scientists. The government's allocation of a minimum of one per cent of GDP to support research, science, technology, and innovative activities has been a mirage. Ghana gives a good start to science, then gives it a floating course to determine its end. How does science grow under such conditions?

The 2023 attempt by the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) to provide grants for selected areas in scientific and innovative developments is well-placed and hopeful, hoping it will survive the test of time.

How are scientists born

and bred in Ghana?

In other words, how are scientists made in Ghana? It is not too clear how the mystery of alluding the academically-endowed to science, gained roots in Ghana. At the secondary level, by default, excellent students are influenced or forced to choose science, willingly or unwillingly. Some also, who may not necessarily be chipped for science, but hypnotised by the value contagion of science, become fanatics, and join the bandwagon. The rest of the students find their way in the other subject areas, which have become relatively less attractive, and also in a rank order of perceived importance. At this stage, an excellent student who refuses entry into the science class and opts for any of the other areas appears odd. At the next level of education, tertiary, the attention turns to medical science, where this time, lobbying for placement in medical schools, from powerful personalities, sets in. The other science courses have also been perceived in a certain order of significance. This is Ghana. If talent, interest, zeal and passion have anything to do with academic studies, then this explains why there is a turnaround in cases where choices are influenced. Some academically endowed students may have misplaced their talents. Some science students may not have been chipped for science. In his book, The Gods are Not to Blame, Ola Rotimi says, "meat that has fat is proved by the heat of fire". As scientists traverse the journey of science, trials of the field reveal the real ones with a passion for science, proof that academic intelligence is not enough to determine who studies science. Ghana must learn. Some renowned Scientists did not make the mark by academic dexterity but by sheer passion for science. On page seven of The Biologist 63(1), Francis Hooton states that throughout history, people have pursued scientific investigation or engineering even with poor grades or having never studied science formally. These people have developed changing technologies or made great breakthroughs in science. Hooton cites, as examples, Copley Medal winners, James Prescott Joule, a self-educated British brewer whose work contributed to the establishment of the energy concept. The international unit of energy bears his name, Charles Darwin, who originated the theory of evolution. Charles Darwin initially studied theology. Before that, he had been influenced to study medicine because his father was a medical doctor, but he left medical school because medicine conflicted with his passion. In Ghana, there is on record the attempt by playwright (of Osofo Dadzie) Joris Wartenberg, to affect acclaimed scientific theories. He was an early pioneer of the call for stringent measures to address climate change, culminating in his lecture at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), Ghana Centre, in 2016.

In Ghana, what becomes of the Scientist after school? Not much is heard about science after school with the same intensity as science. After school, it is every man for himself. The Scientist, just like any other professional, strives for survival on an equal terrain. There is no more pampering, exclusive care, attention and welcoming avenue for all that science stuff in a society and an ailing economy of a third world country like ours, Ghana. Many Scientists, after school, after eating the apple in the 'Garden of Eden', become eye-open and find that there are more intriguing areas where one could equally contribute to the development of the nation. At this time, the Scientist is disillusioned. By accident, design or conscious effort, some Scientists find themselves working in settings differing from the physical sciences they studied.

Even worse is the case of dedicated Scientists who practise science, build cumulative experience, and at the point of nurturing budding Scientists, leave the laboratories and fields with all the long-acquired experience, to become Administrators. A sheer case of comedy of reversals. In school, when some were preoccupied with studying Science, others were studying Administration, made up of the requisite components of the sociology and psychology of dealing with tacit behaviour and the emotional temperature of the complexity of the labour force, the human being. Can delivery be the same for the Scientist turned Administrator and the professional Administrator? This case is especially prevalent in research and academia, where Professors leave science for administrative positions. The Writers, with over a decade of working experience in research and academia, found that Scientists who were actively collaborating in research, academic and scientific studies suddenly lost complete time and concentration for such when they attained administrative positions. The fate of science is further aggravated by waning, when innovations die of lack of funding, leaving Scientists the option of resorting to scholarly publishing for promotion, to gain an increase in personal remuneration. How much has the policymaker made out of scholarly publications?

THE KAUFMANN EFFORT

What we call the Kaufmann effort is the energy being put in by Prof. Elsie Effah Kaufmann in a bid to inject pragmatism into the study of science and make it fruitful. We have listened to Prof. Kaufmann extensively on air, in open interviews, some by TEDxOSU, KSM and Delay, just to mention a few. She has spoken on science education in Ghana and bemoaned Ghanaian science students remembering theories but being unable to apply them. All through her discussions, Prof. Kaufmann manifests outwardly an inner desire to elevate science to a level of problem-solving. We see in her an epitome of a revolution in science endeavours in Ghana, but she is alone. State authorities may have to translate her apprehensions into policy for the study of science in Ghana. Prof. Kaufmann does not just talk, she acts. Her collaboration, since 2010, between students in her Department, the Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Ghana, and final year students of Michigan University to solve field-identified problems is additional testimony to her countless efforts.

Conclusion

Thirty years of the NSMQ in existence, these student Scientists we cheered on national television should now be 'big' scientists, practising science in varied forms. All things being equal, we should be seeing, at least, corresponding scientific ingenuities in practice, from our heroes. But Ghana pre-NSMQ and Ghana post-NSMQ of 31 years make no difference. Ghana is too loud in the study of science and silent in the pragmatism of science. Wise men say, how much one knows is not as relevant as how little one can do with how much one knows. Drawing from this maxim, there are nations which do not make a colourful show of the study of science but set the stage for the translation of science into concrete developments. China is an indisputable example. Is Ghana justifying the notion that empty barrels make the most noise?

The writers: Dr NK Nsiah-Achampong is a Senior Research Scientist, Acting Public Relations Officer, while Mr EK Debrah, also a Senior Research Scientist, both of the CSIR- BRRI

Read the original article on Ghanaian Times.

Ghana: The National Science and Maths Quiz Is a Fun Game

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