The Deputy Minister for Education in charge of General Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has urged young people to work hard towards the realization of their dreams and bring honour not only to themselves, but to their families, schools and the country.

Dr. Adutwum made these remarks when he received the Robotics Team of Opoku Ware School in his office on Wednesday at the Ministry for Education on their arrival from Michigan in the United States, where they won the Innovation Award at the just ended Robofest Competition and was the only African team out of a total of 24 teams to win any award.

They were joined by a cross-section of the school’s old boys and the team members’ families to pay a courtesy call on the Deputy Minister and to inform him of their achievement.

The delegation also included Dr. Yaw Okraku-Yirenkyi, the Coordinator of the Ghana Robotics Academy & Foundation (GRAF), who praised the efforts of the Opoku Ware School team and explained that there were other global robotics competitions slated for China, Thailand and Philippines later this year.

The spokesman for the delegation, who is also Secretary to the Opoku Ware Old Boys’ Association (Akatakyie) Mr. Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng, informed the Deputy Minister that the boys had worked so hard and were inspired to work even harder in future competitions to bring honour to their country. He expressed the hope that the team will be able to draw on the ministry’s support ahead of their preparations for future contests, and that the school was determined to become a robotics hub in the country.

Dr. Adutwum expressed his delight at the team’s achievement and congratulated them for their hard work. “You have no excuse to rest on your laurels. You clearly have a lot of potential and you have to keep working hard”, he urged them.

The team was treated to a reception later in the evening at the National Theatre, hosted by Akatakyie ahead of their onward trip to school in Kumasi yesterday, where they received a rousing welcome from their schoolmates.