Opoku Ware Basic School has emerged champions of the maiden edition of Our Ladies of Grace Senior High school Practical Science Fair.

They beat 11 other schools in the Ashanti Region in a fierce contest in Kumasi.

Each school comprising a team of five students, gave a power point presentation on scientific principle or theory of a chosen topic

It was followed by a practical demonstration of the theory to produce everyday problem-solving results.

They used real chemicals, apparatuses, scientific processes and principles, leveraging creativity and team spirit.

Opoku Ware Basic started with testing of soil drainage to establish suitable soil for the cultivation of orange flesh sweet potato.

An exhaustive explanation of scientific processes for the manufacture of potato yoghurt, dubbed ‘potaghurt’, was the shine of the competition.

Prempeh Basic ‘B’ came up with a remote controlled car with impeccable manoeuvring skills to pick the second position.

Hemang Methodist Model, stunned participants with ‘Yenso’ carrier bag with solar-powered light and phone charging port.

It has the potential to address intermittent power cuts and attendant inconveniences.

Water level detector by Prempeh Basic ‘C’ and Froebel International School’s thief detector, among others, received high commendation.

Other participating schools are Atimatim JHS, Immaculate Heart of Mary, St. Louis Jubilee, Prempeh Basic A, Roman Catholic JHS, Family First School, and Royal Christian Academy.

Image: St. Louis Jubilee

The headmaster of Our Lady of Grace Senior High school, Stephen Anokye believes Ghana needs practical science to develop.

“For Ghana, we would want to call ourselves medium developed country but we are nowhere near the developed countries, where they use practical science to solve their problems. We’ve studied science for long but we’re still in the doldrums and so we would want to start from OLAG,” he said.

Local Manager, Father Sylvester Frimpong, charged stakeholders in the educational sector to consider other competencies.

He says the educational sector which explores ingenuity, creativity, problem-solving approach to learning and teamwork is required to turn the country’s fortune around.

“There are myriad of problems around but all of us think the government is supposed to solve them. It’s because our educational system does not imbue in us to become the solver of problems,” he pointed out.