Quiz mistress of the National Science and Maths Quiz, Prof Elsie Effah Kaufmann, has explained why no girls' school in Ghana has ever won the competition since its introduction in 1993.
Prof Kaufmann who took her turn on this week’s edition of The Delay Show said she has noticed that girls who have participated in the show so far, lack the same level of confidence their male counterparts have.
“When I started, I thought the problem was lack of confidence. I noticed the girls were technically good, they could easily solve the problems but they didn’t have the confidence. I sometimes saw them whispering the right answers but it was very hard for one of them to even say it out loud.”
She added that the last time a girls’ school made it to the finals was in 2013, and the team seemed content with making it to that stage, hence, they didn’t give off their best after that.
“They just sat there and didn’t even make an effort to answer questions,” Prof. Kaufamann lamented.
According to her, another reason why no girl school has won the NSMQ competition was lack of proper preparations.
“The boys’ schools consider it as their world cup… for some girls’ schools’ WASSCE is more important to them than NSMQ but for some boys’ schools, the moment you gain admission, they make their selection and start training them for the competition.
“The teachers can stay with them overnight studying,” she added.
Prof Elsie Kaufmann started hosting the National Science and Maths Quiz in 2005, when the Quiz Mistress at the time wanted to further her education.
