COP Doku donates laptops to Yikrosec, promises GHC50k reward for NSMQ contestants

Science students of the Yilo Krobo Senior High School in the Eastern Region have received a big boost towards enhancing their researches in their academic activities and to aid their preparations ahead of this year’s prestigious national science and maths quiz competition.

The prestige of winning the annual competition has encouraged many senior high schools across the country to go the extra mile to encourage, prepare and equip their students towards recording a sterling performance in the competition.

Though the school has participated in the competition over the years, its best performance yet was an appearance at the preliminary stages of the quiz in 2022.

As part of efforts to boost Yikrosec’s performance in the annual quiz, Director-General (DG) of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, COP Francis Ebenezer Doku who is an old student of the school has donated some laptops to the institution to aid their preparations for the event.

Also, the veteran police officer who left the school some forty-one years ago also announced a GH₵50,000 reward for the students if they’re able to clinch a quarter-final feat.

COP Doku at a short ceremony at the school noted that annexing the trophy was a possibility, explaining that the purpose of his support was to encourage the students to improve upon the feats of their seniors.

“We want to encourage the current students to step up their efforts based on what their predecessors have done and to tell the whole world that it doesn’t matter where you are, the best can still come from you once you make the effort,” he said.

Announcing the cash reward for the participants in the national science and maths quiz, he assured: “If they’re able to get to the national quarter-finals, I’ll give them fifty-thousand Cedis and I know they can do it”, he added.

He eulogised the past students of the school for their impressive performance in the last WASSCE with many of them qualifying for university education.

Challenging the students to rise higher than he has as the current occupant of the number five position in the hierarchy of the police administration, Doku asked them to take their studies seriously to enable them attain their dreams.

COP Doku who was confident that his support would go a long way to support the preparations of the students ahead of the competition and examinations called on other old students and benevolent individuals to come on board and contribute their quota towards the development of the school.

The headmaster of the Yilo Krobo Senior High School, Philip Narh Odonkor who received the items on behalf of the school described the donation of the laptops as timely to assist the students in their preparations towards the NSMQ.

“All this while, we’ve been looking for a gadget like this to support our national science and maths quiz team but it was getting difficult for us to get them,” said the school head whilst extending the appreciation of the PTA, school management and the entire student population to the old student.

He assured the benefactor that the equipment would be put to the best of use to improve upon the performance of the school in the science and maths competition.

Odonkor said, “We hope to use and use it well and we believe our children will go further than what they did last year, we promise".

A third-year student and president of the Science Students Association of Yikrosec, Deborah Siaw in an interview said the presentation of the computers was an apt gesture that would boost their studies and enhance their researches to enable them achieve the ultimate for their school.

“As they say, education is the key but research is the tool so with these laptops, I believe that with hard work and more effort, we’re going to use it in better ways to improve the studies in our school to get the ultimate so that we’ll bring the cup to the Yilo Krobo Senior High School,” said the student.

Asked if they were ready to meet the quarter-finals target to enable them win the fifty thousand Cedis jackpot, Siaw answered in the affirmative adding that the feat was possible through hard work in their studies.

Further underscoring the challenges students faced in their research efforts, she said, “It is going to help us in our research because it got to a time, researching has become a problem for us because there are no phones and if there’re no teachers on campus, we find it a little bit difficult”.

She expressed her profound gratitude to COP Doku for the gesture with the firm assurance that the students would do their best to make him proud.