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11.12.2007 General News

Keta Senior High School win Human Right Quiz

11.12.2007 LISTEN
By The Statesman

Keta Senior High School Saturday emerged winners of the 2007 National Human Rights Quiz Competition organised by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service.

Ghana Senior High School, Tamale was the first runner up, whiles Winneba Senior High and Notre Dame Senior High School were the second runner up and fourth places respectively.

The winners took away a computer and its accessories worth GH¢10,500. The runner up received only a computer worth GH¢685. The second runner up and the fourth place received a telefax worth GH¢250 and a copier that has a scanner and printer attached to it which is worth GH¢150 respectively. All the prizes come along with books. Each contestant was given a certificate of participation and an amount of GH¢40.

The 55 schools participated in the quiz competition aimed at promoting human rights culture among students in Senior High Schools across the country.

Speaking to The Statesman, Masters Mfodjoh Kingdom and Akakpo Wisdom, contestants for Keta Senior High School, said the competition has helped them to understand and know more about human rights.

They said at the regional stages of the competition things were very difficult because they did not have any materials to work with. "We were only given the topics for the quiz and had to research on our own," they said.

The two contestants appealed to CHRAJ to ensure that the competition at the regional level is well organized. They also advised their colleagues to join educational clubs like the National Commission on Civic Education, than channeling their energies into clubs that are only interested in excursions.

Mawuli Avutor, Senior Public Education Officer, CHRAJ, told The Statesman that he was impressed by the performance of the students. He said the Commission has established human rights clubs in the schools and the competition was a way of testing their understanding of what they have been taught at the clubs.

He disclosed that the Commission intends to expand the competition to cover more schools than it currently does. He however noted that heads of some of the schools have problems allowing their students to participate because of what they termed "interference with their school calendar".

In her welcome address, the Deputy Director of the Education Department, CHRAJ, Lilian Ayete-Nyampong, noted that human rights education forms an essential contribution to the long term prevention of human rights abuses and also serves as an important investment in the CHRAJ's efforts to achieve a just society in which the human rights of all persons are valued and respected.

She said an important outcome of human rights education is empowerment, a process through which people and communities improve the quality of their lives and are actively involved in formulation of decisions that affect them.

She said the Commission has organized educational programmes for teachers in the basic and second cycle schools, as well as Teacher Training Colleges in the country.

She observed that this programmes seek to equip teachers with human rights knowledge and skills to enable them deliver effectively human rights lessons in the classroom.

By Gilbert Boyefio

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