Primetime Ltd conducts COVID-19 Testing ahead of National Championship (NSMQ 2020)
The first batch of schools for the 2020 National Science & Maths Quiz One-eighth Stage have arrived at the University of Ghana, Legon to begin their journey for the National Championship.
In this year’s competition, all students, teachers and the NSMQ organizing team will undergo mandatory covid-19 testing as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of all parties involved in the competition.
On Tuesday 23rd September, 2020, 27 seeded schools as well as qualified schools from the Northern Zone, Bono-Ahafo Zone, Greater Accra Regions and the organizing team from Primetime Limited underwent Covid-19 testing ahead of the One-eighth stage of the competition.
In accordance with Covid-19 measures, the first batch of schools had an interactive orientation session where they had the opportunity to ask questions and seek qualifications on issues of concern from the organizers. Contestants and their teachers were also provided with Vitamin C and Zinc tablets to boost their immune system. Students will continue to receive face masks during contest to guarantee that the appropriate mask is being used.
Commenting on the measures taken to safeguard contestants, Ms. Salomey Maarku-Chirebu, a Chemistry teacher and HOD of the St. Peter’s SHS Science Department applauded Primetime Limited on taking the necessary precautionary measure of testing all contestants and teachers competing in this year’s NSMQ. According to her the free test organized by Primetime is at a huge advantage for schools who would feel more confident in knowing their status and safety as they compete.
During the orientation session, Mrs. Nana Akua Ankomah-Asare, the Managing Director of Primetime Limited emphasized on the Covid-19 protocols, expectations of contestants at the NSMQ camp, the rules and regulations of the competition. She also informed the gathering of the presence of psychologists at the NSMQ camp who will be available to assist contestants during this period to ensure that contestants are in the right frame of mind to compete and be able to bear with the pressure of the competition.
At the official launch on 1st September, 2020, Prime Time Ghana announced that there will be no live audience participation for this year’s competition, however Primetime has rescinded this decision and will allow a limited number of people who adhere to Covid-19 protocols into the venue on competition days.
For the first time in the long running history of the competition, two contests will occur concurrently daily during the One-eighth Stage to cut down the number of competition days. The 40 winners from the Preliminary stage will compete alongside the 27 seeded schools and 14 national top runners-up at the one-eight stage. Winners of these contests will progress to the Quarterfinal Stage of the competition.
On Wednesday 23rd September, a tiebreaker contest will be held between Adu Gyamfi SHS, Bueman SHS, Kumasi High School and St. Mary’s SHS, Accra to secure the last two slots as the 14 top runners-up to compete in NSMQ2020. There will be no live streaming of this tiebreaker contest; however there will be round by round updates on social media.
The balloting for the One-eighth Stage will be live streamed on all NSMQ social media platforms on Wednesday 23rd September, 2020 at 5:00pm GMT.
Here’s a timeline of events to look forward to in this year’s National Science & Maths Quiz.
- Monday, September 21 & Tuesday, September 22, 2020: Arrival of participating schools.
- Tuesday, September 22, 2020 – Friday, September 25, 2020: Mandatory COVID-19 tests.
- Tuesday, September 22 – Friday, September 25, 2020: Orientation on interactive boards.
- Wednesday, September 23: Orientation, Tiebreaker Contest & Balloting for One-Eighth Stage Contests
- Wednesday, September 23 – October 6, 2020: Mentorship Sessions at 1pm.
- Saturday, September 26, 2020: Teachers & Consultants’ Forum
- Monday, September 28, 2020 – Thursday, October 1, 2020: One-Eighth Stage
- Friday, October 2 – Sunday, October 4, 2020: Quarterfinal Stage.
- Tuesday, October 6, 2020: Semi-finals
- Thursday, October 8, 2020: Closing Ceremony and Grand Finale.