Anambra Wins ANCOPPS Schools Academic Competition

IKENNA ANIAGBOSO

Anambra State has continued to record excellent performances in education. With the outstanding feat of Anambra Golden Girls and Bronze Boys still fresh in the memory, the state has again received news of the great performance of its students in a recent national competition conducted by the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) in Sokoto, Sokoto State.

Anambra State participated in the 8th July, 2019, National Congress of ANCOPSS during which a national competition for students was conducted. Students from Anambra State emerged first and third in the junior and senior categories respectively.

The student from Queen of the Rosary College (QRC) Onitsha, Miss Ikwelugo Chiamaka Favour, came first in the quiz competition (junior category) while the student from Maria Regina Model Comprehensive Secondary School, Nnewi, Miss Obaa Mary Queen, came third in Essay writing in the senior category.

The excellent performances of Anambra State students are a reflection of the dedication and quality investment in education by the Willie Obiano led Anambra State Government.

The feat of the young school girls from Regina Pacie Model Secondary School, Onitsha, remains a testament to this. Their success reverberated all over the world when in August 19, 2018, they shocked students from technologically advanced nations to clinch the gold in the world Technovation challenge at Silicon Valley, earning themselves accolades and the deserving sobriquet, ‘Golden Girls’.

In a like manner, students of St John’s Secondary School, Alor, made the state proud when they took the third position in an international school debate hosted in Tunisia, March 21st to 29th, 2019. Like the golden girls, they also became popularly known as the ‘Bronze Boys’.

Back in 2017, students of Loretto Special Science School, Adazi, won the first prize in the senior secondary category of the national performance assessment conducted by the Federal Ministry of Education while Queen of the Rosary Secondary School, Onitsha won the the first prize in the junior secondary category.

Anambra’s feat in education is not a fluke but a result of detailed and structured plan to sustain an academic standard that will encourage healthy competition among students and also prepare them sufficiently to compete anywhere in the world. The standards are firmly supported by a class of sound, qualified and well motivated professionals who serve as administrators, teachers, counselors and mentors to the students.

The provision of adequate equipment and conducive environment for learning by the Anambra state  government and the prompt payment of teachers which has not failed even once for the past five years, serves as the catalyst that engenders the academic excellence that the state has become known for. The incentives and welfare packages, unsolicited for, but provided by the state government to support, assist and motivate the teachers, spurs them to give nothing but their best.

This yielded more laurels to the state when Mr. Clement Okolo, a teacher at Central School, Abagana, won the first prize in the teacher’s category of the national performance assessment conducted by the Federal Ministry of Education in 2017.

Anambra yet clinched the first and fourth positions in 2018 during the assessment of school administrators by the Ministry. Amala Ezenwa of Awada Primary School 4, emerged the overall best while Vera Uju Ikegwuani of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Onitsha, came fourth.

What is more, Anambra clearly distinguished itself as the academic torchbearer of the nation when it became the first state to win the annual President’s school debate competition consecutively for four years. The state had won the competition three years in a row and when it hosted the annual debate challenge in December, 2018, it made sure to win resoundingly and for the fourth consecutive year, the President’s Cup; beating Benue state four points to one.

The provision of quality education and empowerment of students and youths for a stable and viable future remains one of the top priorities of the Willie Obiano administration. The mission is to be the shining light as Anambra remains on top in the Nation.