Tema, (Greater Accra) 1 March '99 --

Saint Andrews JSS yesterday won the grand finale of the mathematics and science quiz competition organised for junior secondary schools (JSS) in the Tema municipality. St. Andrews won with 51 points, Datus which came second had 49 points, while Tema Royal took the third position with 45 points. First Baptist JSS collected 42 points to take the fourth position. The winning schools received science books, mathematical sets pens and certificates as their awards. The competition, which was sponsored by the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO), is aimed at sharpening the intelligence of pupils in science and mathematics. Mr Dave Weaver, VALCO director of human resource and administration said the company sponsored the contest with the objective of helping to develop the science and mathematics abilities of the children, in preparation for future challenges. "Such skills will also provide the foundation that Ghana needs to eventually take off economically, industrially and technologically". VALCO contributes over one billion cedis annually to fund education related activities through the VALCO Trust Fund and supports three universities in the country to the tune of 50 million cedis a year. Mr Eric T.Nyanker, the quizmaster said a weakness identified during the competition was the inability of the pupils to answer abstract questions. He said "the fear of mathematics is still there" as more boys than girls participated in the competition, a situation which he said must be reversed by encouraging girls to study science. Mr Nyanker suggested to the Ghana Education Service to encourage public schools to take part in the competition, since all the contestants were from private schools.