Justice Prof. Henrietta Mensa Bonsu, a Supreme Court judge, has revealed that challenges met by the various girls’ schools in the country, in preparing for the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) affect their success in the competition.

Prof’s Comment comes after people raised concerns following the elimination of all the girls’ schools in the 2022 NSMQ contest.

Speaking in an interview Prof Mensah Bonsu disclosed that, winning the NSMQ is about practice and preparation, which most girls’ schools may have difficulty executing, because of parents’ attachment to their daughters.

“when I hear the kind of preparation and practice the boys’ schools put their contestants through, then I know it will be a challenge for the young women because parents tend to want their daughters to come home during vacation. Most of the contestants stay in school and parents don’t like that with their daughters.”
Prof Mensah Bonsu

Using herself as an example, Prof Mensa-Bonsu indicated that as a young girl, her parents first asked about her whereabouts when they came home, just as many parents do in the case of their daughters.

“So I don’t think they would have agreed that I should just stay in school preparing for a contest two years ahead as the boys do.”
Prof Mensah Bonsu

The Supreme Court judge further noted that “the young ladies are every bit as intelligent and capable as the boys but with everything you need practice and they just don’t have the time.”

Wesley Girls High School, Prof’s alma matar, was for the first time in eight years unseeded and will have to start the contest from the regional qualifiers. They are also the only girls’ school to make it to the finals. They made their first appearance at the finals in 1999 against Mfantsipim but the Mfantsipim won.

Girls’ Schools Performance In NMSQ 2022

The 2022 edition of the National Science and Maths Quiz recorded the worst ever performance for all-girls’ schools. Since the contest began in the year 1993, this was the first time none of the girls’ school in the competition made it into the quarterfinal stage.

For the subsequent number of years, the National Science and Math Quiz has become a very competitive event fostering good and healthy academic rivalry among high schools and giving the bragging rights to second cycle students in Ghana.

It’s incomplete to talk about top high schools in Ghana without mentioning some of the girls’ senior high schools such as WESLEY GIRL, ABURI GIRLS, HOLY CHILD, ST. MARY’S GIRLS, MFANTSIMAN GIRLS amongst many others.

Most of these all-girls’ senior high schools have achieved some feats and earned for themselves some good accolades and impressions in Ghana. It’s however surprising to know that after nearly twenty-five years of the NSMQ, no girls’ school in Ghana has ever claimed the title.

Many of the students in the girls schools were at par with the boys in Junior High School and also perform well in the tertiary institutions against their male counterparts in medicine and in other fields in science. So does it mean they are not interested in the NMSQ?

According to Professor Elsie Effah Kaufmann, it appears that the reason why no girls’ school has won the competition is a lack of confidence when they face the boys. She noted that the girls are equally brilliant but usually give up when they face-off with the boys.