Obuasi Senior High Technical School from the Ashanti Region has emerged victorious in the 2024 STEMNNOVATION competition. The five-member team clinched the top spot with an innovative project on Environmental Sustainability, featuring a solar-powered, home-made dialysis machine. Their outstanding presentation impressed the judges, securing them the coveted award.
For their victory, the team received a cash prize of GH₵50,000, two laptops, assorted books, and GH₵20,000 insurance coverage for each member.
Dabokpa Technical Institute from the Northern Region placed second with a remarkable project showcasing an electric tricycle and bicycle. They also demonstrated charging systems for their electric vehicles. For their efforts, they were awarded GH₵40,000, a laptop, and textbooks.
Yaa Asantewaa Girls Senior High School from Ashanti Region took third place with a prototype water-filtering machine, earning GH₵30,000, a laptop, and assorted books. Presbyterian Senior High School, Legon (PRESEC), placed fourth with a smart incubator for hatching chicken and took home GH₵20,000, a laptop, and books.
In total, 20 out of 56 contestants received awards, with prizes ranging from GH₵50,000 to GH₵10,000, along with books, laptops, and plaques. The three-day contest served as a platform for students to pitch projects aimed at solving societal challenges.
Transforming Education
Speaking at the award ceremony, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister for Education, praised the students’ projects as evidence of the ongoing transformation in Ghana’s education sector. He lauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s vision and support in driving educational reforms and commended the Free Senior High School Secretariat and partners for organizing the competition.
Dr. Adutwum urged Ghanaians to sustain the transformation by supporting the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the upcoming elections, warning against repeating the 2008 mistake when the NPP was voted out, halting educational progress.
Supporting Innovation
The Chief Executive Officer of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), Mr. Kofi Ofosu Nkansah, pledged to collaborate with investors to commercialize the students’ innovations and reaffirmed support for future editions of the STEMNNOVATION competition.
