Contestants from Prempeh College, SDA Senior High School, and St. Andrews Senior High School put up sterling performances to emerge as winners of the 2024 regional-level Inter-Senior High School Cocoa Quiz Competitions.
The highly competitive event, organized by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) in collaboration with the Ghana Tourism Authority as part of activities to mark the 2024 National Chocolate Week celebration, offered the students the rare opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge about the cocoa sector, health and nutritional benefits of cocoa, and the overall contribution of cocoa to the country’s economy.
In all, 12 senior high schools selected from the Ashanti, Bono Ahafo, and the Western South Cocoa Regions participated in the competition, which is the first of its kind of activities associated with the annual Chocolate event instituted 19 years ago.
In the Brong Ahafo Region, the competition, which was broadcast live on SKY FM, was among SDA SHS, St. James Seminary SHS, Twene Amanfo SHS, and Notre Dame SHS at the Forecourt of the Regional Office of Cocoa Board in Sunyani. After the contest, SDA SHS emerged winners with 36 points, with St. James Seminary picking the second position with 33 points, and Twene Amanfo and Notre Dame SHS placing third and fourth with 30 and 22.5 points, respectively.
In the Western South Region, the four schools that participated in the contest were St. Andrews SHS, Boaponsem SHS, Oxford SHS, and Dunkwa Senior High School.
St. Andrews SHS came out on top, followed by Oxford SHS with Boaponsem and Dunkwa SHS placing third and fourth, respectively, in the competition, which was also held live in the studios of Denkyiraman FM at Dunkwa.
In the Ashanti Regional contest, Prempeh College, Dwamena Akenten SHS, St. Louis SHS, and KNUST SHS displayed ample knowledge in cocoa. After a nerve-racking competition involving two sessions, Prempeh College emerged winners with 36 points, followed closely by St. Louis SHS with 32 points, whilst KNUST and Dwamena SHS from Offinso secured 27 and 21 points, respectively, to grab the third and fourth positions.
All the schools that participated in the competition received various sums of cash prizes and packages of cocoa products. The winners, however, received cash prizes of Three Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH₵ 3,000.00), the first and second runners-up took home Two Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH₵2000.00) and One Thousand Five Hundred Ghana Cedis (GH₵ 1,500.00), respectively, with the fourth-place schools receiving One Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH₵ 1,000.00).
According to sources from the Ghana Cocoa Board, there are plans to extend the competition to all cocoa regions in the near future.
