Nkoranza Senior High Technical School (SHTS) from the Bono East Region emerged winners at the 29th edition of the Cowbell-GES Independence Day Debate held in Accra as part of Ghana's 69th Independence Day celebrations.

With a score of 260.33 points, the Nkoranza South District school, speaking against the motion “The departure of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger from ECOWAS will be more damaging to the three countries than to ECOWAS,” beat Sokode Senior High Technical School, which scored 244.67 points in the keenly contested debate.

Since its inception in 1997, the Cowbell-GES Independence Day Debate has built the capacity of Senior High School (SHS) students to analyse national and global issues in depth, develop public speaking skills, encourage research and knowledge, promote patriotism and national awareness, and foster healthy intellectual competition.

The Marketing Manager for Promasidor Ghana, Michael Hagan, congratulated all participating schools on their excellent performance.

“Kudos to all schools from the district, regional and national stages for a stellar performance in this edition.

"Promasidor, through its flagship brand, Cowbell, continues to provide nutritious milk products to Ghanaians, treating our young ones to quality food.

"As a brand intentional about competitive academic excellence, we are grateful for the opportunity to nurture the next generation, as it aligns with our business efforts at providing nutritious milk for the well-being of all Ghanaians, especially children.”

The inter-school debate journey began with over 700 senior high schools competing at the district level, with 16 finalists advancing to the next level.

Sokode SHSTSS beat the likes of Mfantseman Girls SHS (Central Region), Oda SHS (Eastern Region), Chemu SHS (Greater Accra), St Monica’s SHS (Ashanti Region), Buema SHS (Oti Region), Bonzo Kaku SHS (Western Region), and Awaso STEM Academy (Western North) to come out as the Southern Zone lead school.

Nkoranza SHTS led the Northern Zone, outperforming peers like Serwa Kesse Girls SHS (Ahafo Region), Sunyani SHS (Bono Region), Salaga SHS (Savana Region), Walawale SHTS (North East Region), Presby SHS (Northern Region), Notre Dame Seminary SHS (Upper East) and Wa SHS (Upper West).