The fourth edition of the National Public Speaking Competition has been launched in Kumasi.

Featuring over one hundred and eighty senior high schools, the competition seeks to develop a new crop of leaders who champion diplomacy to tackle societal issues. 

The contest runs under the auspices of the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, in collaboration with the Cultural Unit of the Ghana Education Service.

The act of speaking in public is fast developing into a commercial tool and soft skill in the fast-advancing world. 

Scores of students and educational stakeholders gathered to witness the takeoff of another edition of the annual contest of speaking. 

The National Public Speaking Competition offers senior high students the platform to exhibit and develop confident oratory skills geared toward advocacy and activism in society. 

National Programs Officer, Bertha Amanor, says the goal is in building a crop of speakers who will use public speaking to influence society positively. 

”Over the years we have been looking at building speakers who will influence society with their oratory. We call for people who have leadership skills and our passion is to make sure they develop the leadership capacity. And this competition will help them find who they are and how to influence society positively,” she said. 

The contest this year is themed: “Mental Health and the Adolescent Child”. 

Addressing the theme, the winner of the 2022 edition of the contest, Helen Owusuwaa Darko, said mental health education deserves attention through the competition. 

”The absence of mental education should go far. It's important that the youth are educated about it. Depression and suicide are at their highest cases at the moment and the competition has made a meaningful choice of highlighting,” she said.

Marketing Manager of Arla Foods Ghana Headline sponsors of the contest, Willson Agbeko says the importance of speaking skills in a soft skill-driven world induced the sponsorship.

“Students are our major consumers and the more we get in touch with them, the more they know of our brands. And the competition is a key platform for that, importantly for the benefit in developing the oratory and confident skills of the participants,” he said. 

This year's contest expects participating schools to submit a three-minute-long video of a student or a group of students addressing the theme. 

Some participating schools expressed preparedness to win the trophy this year.