Sierra Leone: All-girl school triumphs in inter-secondary school quiz competition

By Brima Sannoh in Pujehun

Fourteen-year-old Agnes Marfo Minah and 17-year-old Martha Mansaray, both from the Holy Rosary Secondary School in the southern Pujehun town, are the heroes of their school after they emerged winners of an inter-secondary school quiz and debate competition.

The competition is organized by the Ibrahim Brima Swaray Foundation, a non-profit founded by politician Ibrahim Brima Swaray, who says his goal is to complement government’s effort in promoting education, specifically the government’s free quality school education programme. The competition also aims at motivating and inspiring academic excellence in learners as well as foster a spirit of healthy competition and intellectual growth among secondary school pupils, according to the organizers.

The first edition of the competition was held on December 5^th, 2020 in Kenema. This latest edition in Pujehun makes it 19^th times.

And it is the 4^th time Pujehun has hosted it. The event was held on Saturday November 16^th at the District Council Hall in Pujehun Town.

According to the organizers, 12 schools, both junior and senior secondary levels from different parts of the district, took part in the competition.

Holy Rosary Secondary School, an all-girl institution located in Pujehun Town, emerged as the best quiz team, winning a cash prices of NLe2,000 and learning materials.

The Ahmadiyya Junior Secondary School and the National Islamic Junior Secondary School, both of them located in Bandajuma, took 2^nd and 3^rd places as best quiz team.

Agnes and Martha got the individual prizes for both the debate and quiz categories, emerging first for one category, respectively.

A happy Agnes attributed her success in the competition to hard work.

“My hard work, determination, focus and commitment earned me this award and I am so excited to have won this price,” the JSS III pupil told ManoReporters after receiving her award.

“I challenged myself that I will do it and I did it. So to all my colleague students, you have to believe in yourself, work hard and you will surely succeed. That’s the only magic for success,” she said.

For Martha Mansaray, the Best Debater of the competition and a senior high school student from the same school, her parents, especially her mother, was a solid pillar behind her success at the competition. She said her mother encouraged her throughout the process of studying her script.

“I will like to thank the Almighty God, my mother and my teachers for such a milestone achievement. Without them it would not have been possible,” she said.

“It is really now that I believe in the adage:  ‘practice makes perfect.’ You can only make progress out of something when you practice it. It was through that I mastered and conquered my script,” she said.

She also urged her peers to take their studies serious.

“To all of you my peers, be serious with your studies and embrace education as the only tool that we can use to address the poverty in our families,” she said.

The two girls are the first female pupils from the same school to take the top spot in the competition since it started, according to the organizers.

Msaasquoi Mannah Massaquoi, Country Director for the Ibrahim Brima Swaray Foundation, said the initiative conceived by its Chief Executive Officer, Ibrahim Brima Swaray, was inspired by President Julius Maada Bio’s call for Sierra Leoneans to join forces and support his administration’s flagship Free Quality School Education programme.

“Since the launch of this Foundation in 2020, we have held debates and quiz competitions in various parts of Sierra Leone, supported free summer schools and prepare Sierra Leonean children to be bold to speak in public gatherings as well as to be able to express themselves with confidence,” Mr Mannah said.

“For us at the Ibrahim Brima Swaray Foundation, we see education as a right, rather than a privilege. This is why we are reaching out to all communities across the country to empower school going children with the motivation they need to unlock their future,” he added.