Methodist Girls Senior High School: The Queens of World Robotic Championship

As the slogan of Akuapem based Methodist Senior High School goes, ‘anything we put our hands-on, we must excel,’ the school has excelled on the global stage twice in the World Robotic Championship.

MEGHIS have won the World Robotic Championship twice in a row – in 2019 and 2020.

Robofest is an annual robotics festival and competition designed to promote and support Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

The World Robotics and Coding Competition was made up of twelve (12) regional groups from Africa, Europe, Asia, North and South America.

The operational challenge for the competition, named BasketBot is a robotics and coding competition that allows participants to code robots to draw balls from baskets into their zone. Participants were given a period of one week to code and submit before the final competition.

Methodist Senior High School defended the title won in 2019 after beating off competition from five thousand (5000) teams across the world in a virtual edition.

The historic feat was achieved by 13 second-year students from MEGHIS’ robotic club.

Their headmistress, Mrs Winifred Seibu Arthur said after winning the first title in 2019, many felt it was a nine-day wonder so defending it means a lot for them and the achievement has raised the standard of the school and made them one of the most sought after second cycle institution in Ghana.

“After winning the first one, people thought it was just flash, so this sort of cement the fact that when women especially girls put their minds together to do something, they actually excel, so I see this win as a win for womanhood, as a win for all schools, and as a win for Ghana.

“It has raised the level and the image of the school, and we are still in the process of admission, so many people will come and say it is MEGHIS or no school at all and some of them you will look at them and can’t help and it is something else, so many people wouldn’t have gone to know us until the robotics competition came in which is a great news,” she said on the days show on TV3.

Mr Ben Amoako who handles the club made up of 50 students offering different courses explains that the journey so far has been an exciting one.

“It’s very exciting with most of them being girls and taking up such challenges, and getting to that level, it’s amazing.

“It’s all about mindset, it’s not what you do.

“Over the years, we have neglected girls when it comes to certain aspects of education, women advocate always say that we should give women some roles in politics, leadership, but the point is we wait till they get to that level before we ask them to, but the very day a child is born – whether a boy or a girl, they have to be given equal opportunities,” he told Berla Mundi on the Day Show.

These girls might find themselves in a small part of the country but are making legacies that will stand for years to come.