Members of Parliament (MPs) are advocating the integration of the National Science and Maths Quiz into the senior high school curriculum.

Prempeh College from the Ashanti Region emerged winners of the 2017 edition of the flagship quiz competition held at the National Theatre on Thursday, 29 June, 2017.

Sharing their views on the competition with Class News, the MPs said the move would ensure the country produced a lot more students with interest in the sciences and mathematics.

South Dayi MP Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor said: “There is a programme being run by lots of the private schools in Accra and Kumasi and other places, it’s called UCMAS. My children participate in the programme and I’m in awe when I see my daughter give me the answer to a set of additions before I could even key in these figures on a calculator. It’s because of the UCMAS programme. And so if this can be integrated into the mainstream GES curriculum, it should be part of the curriculum reform we are calling for.”

Cape Coast South MP Kwaku Ricketts-Hagan said: “Maths and science are critical basically for our development and I think that it’s important that we make sure that our kids are equipped with maths and science. This day and age you can be here in Ghana and there are kids being taught at the high level in maths and science and for us to be able to be competitive as a nation, I think that maths and science should be taken very seriously and I couldn’t agree more with my colleague who think these things should be taken more seriously than probably what we are doing.”

They further called on private companies to take more interest in sponsoring the programme and for sponsors to also improve on the awards given at the end of the competition.

“The awards should improve, they should give them better awards. It wouldn’t be bad if they can be given full scholarships for their university studies. From here, when they pass the WASSCE, whatever programme they will choose – and I’m sure these are people in the sciences or in the technical programmes – the sponsors of the programme should be able to sponsor the candidates who enter the semi-finals and the finals. They should be able to give them full scholarships. There is no better motivation than to be told that you have a full scholarship. You just kill yourself and study,” Mr Dafeamekpor said.