Help A Girl Foundation, Memac Productions, in partnership with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), has set August 4, 2023 to host the quarter-finals of the Girls’ Speech and Debate Championship at the St. Louis Senior High School in Kumasi.
The draw programme, which took place at Christ the King Hall in Accra, selected representatives from eight different girls’ schools in Ghana, with three students representing each school. A ballot was conducted to arrive at various topics to debate, the date of commencement, and the pairing of each school.
Schools selected include E.P.C Mawuko Girls’ SHS, Serwaa Kesse, St. Mary’s, Accra Girls’, St. Louis, St. Monica, Our Lady of Lourdes, and the Kumasi Wesley Girls’ SHS.
The first set of schools comprise E.P.C Mawuko Girls’ and Serwaa Kesse SHS speaking on the topic ‘Should all students be required to study at least one foreign language in schools? The second battle includes St. Mary’s and Accra Girls’ SHS speaking on the topic ‘Should male and female students be taught in separate classrooms?’ while the third set is between St. Louis and St. Monica SHS on the topic ‘Should standardisation be the only assessment in high schools?’ Finally, ‘Our Lady of Lourdes and Kumasi Wesley Girls’ will face it off on ‘Should students be permitted to use mobile devices in school?
Executive Director of Memac Productions, Dora Badu Acheampong, stated that the girls’ speech and debate championship is to help build confidence in girls who do not believe in themselves, and encourage them to achieve a better livelihood.
“First, it is to ensure that we build a generation of young girls and empower them. Those who are confident can do anything; so we thought this speech and debate will be able to nurture young girls as such. In our interactions and research, we have recognised that girls at this stage have gotten to the point where they are most vulnerable.
“So, there are some things we can do to ensure that our girls are better at every stage of their lives. We are doing this and hope to get everyone to join us to support our young girls and empower them to become great. Our girls can do more,” she said.
Speaking on requirements when it comes to the selection of schools, Ms. Acheampong added: “It was open registration, so the girls registered; and after the registration, they were asked to write a two-page speech on a topic that we gave them. They wrote the speeches; our judges and examiners marked and selected the top 8 schools”.
Ms. Acheampong maintained that all the schools that qualified for the quarter-finals, did so on merit by putting in hard work, impressive content, and well-constructed grammatical sentences, among others, in the first stage which is the speech part.
“However, the quarter-finals stage is focused on debate. It would be a face-to-face session for the girls to debate their sides and persuade people and see who will be crowned champions of the debate championship.” She stated.
Principal Programmes Officer at UNESCO Ghana Commission, Moses Gemeh, on his part, urged Ghanaians to contribute their quota to build and support girls as well as ensure they are included in decision-making.
