The University of Education, Winneba (UEW), emerged as winners of the Western Zone maiden Inter-University electronic Constitution quiz competition organised by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in Cape Coast.

They bagged 445 points to beat the University of Cape Coast(UCC) which came second with 303 points, followed by Takoradi Technical University with 25 points in a keenly contested event held on Monday.

As winners, UEW would be representing the Western zone at the national Inter-University Constitution Quiz competition later this year.

The Constitution Quiz Contest, a portfolio based on testing the understanding of students at the Senior High Schools (SHS) level on Ghana's constitution was introduced in 2002 by the NCCE.

The NCCE, expanded its scope to cover students at the tertiary level when its launched the maiden Inter-University Quiz and Debate championship, on the theme: “Restoring Our Ghanaian Values as Active Citizens”.

The initiative was among others, to promote good citizenship among In-School Youth, increase knowledge among the citizenry to be able to understand and appreciate their rights and obligations, uplift the quality of public discourse, deepen the country’s democracy and raise the profile of the Commission.

It also formed part of activities marking the 60 and 25 years of attaining independence and adopting the Fourth Republican Constitution respectively.

Madam Kathy Addy, Deputy Chairperson of the NCCE, asserted that the Constitution contest for the past years has deepened students’ understanding of the Constitution and this would help them to be responsible citizens.

She said the NCCE believed that the role of the youth in shaping the destiny of the country could not be overemphasised, hence the need to get them to understand the constitution so as to preserve the positive values that fostered nation building.

She expressed satisfaction about the achievements of the programme and admonished the students to inculcate the civic values learnt and apply them to ensure that they became responsible citizens in the society.

The Vice Chancellor of UCC, Professor Joseph Ghartey Ampiah in a speech read on his behalf, commended the NCCE and hoped that the initiative would positively facilitate the restoration of the Ghanaian identity and the abandoned national values.

He said it was only when values such as discipline, tolerance, patriotism, punctuality, integrity, honesty, accountability and the rule of law among other things were restored that Ghana could be on the path to development.

Prof. Ghartey Ampiah said through the competition, students would inculcate the tenets of good citizenship and perform their duties accordingly to help move the country forward.

Mr Nicolas Ofori Boateng, Regional Director of NCCE, said the studying of the constitution was not only the preserve of people in the legal profession, but also for the entire citizenry to appreciate the principles and objectives of the constitution.

He added that citizens could only stand to defend themselves from all forms of abuses and violation if they had in-depth knowledge of the constitution.

Mr Ofori Boateng appealed to Ghanaians to show interest in the various programmes designed by the NCCE to help broaden their knowledge in the constitution.

He expressed the hope that the competition would go a long way to enable the youth to understand the Constitution of the country, cherish and uphold it.

Some of the participants who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) expressed gratitude to the NCCE for the initiative and enumerated how the contest has been beneficial to them and their colleagues.