Young Mentees Foundation, an NGO committed to supporting the holistic academic development of students in the Northern Region, has held a quiz competition to help boost learners' interest in education. The competition, held in Tamale, climaxed a 10 week-long intellectual engagement amongst selected Junior High Schools in the region. From the initial stage of 56 JHSs drawn from Tamale Metropolis, Sagnarigu and Savelugu Municipalities and Tolon District, four JHSs; Tiyumba M/A JHS, Saint Peters R/C JHS, Nyohini Presbyterian Block 'B' JHS and Dahinshelli JHS, battled it out at the grand finale. The competition was supported by Top Choco, Flora Tissue, and Afro Arab Group of Companies. Mr Abdulai Salahudeen Tunteeya, Chief Executive Officer of YMF, speaking during the event, said it was an annual competition to enhance students' confidence in learning. He said statistics showed high school drop-out in the country attributing it to low confidence, low literacy rates and lack of interest amongst students, say ing this necessitated the competition, which was tailored to revive students' interest in education. He said the competition was to enable students to understand concepts better, pass standardised tests and motivate students to learn. Hajia Katumi Natogmah Attah, Northern Regional Director of Education, whose speech was read on her behalf, said such competitions helped to build students' intellectual and mental capabilities towards academic excellence. Hajia Alima Sagito-Saeed, Executive Director, Savannah Women Integrated Development Agency, advised participants not to limit themselves to the competition but learn more even after the competition to enable them to represent the region in both national and international competitions. Dahinshelli JHS was crowned winners of the competition and received GHc 2,000.00 cash prize with Tiyumba M/A JHS receiving GHc1,000.00 cash prize as first runners up, while Saint Peters R/C JHS received GHc500 cash prize for winning the second runners up and Nyohini Presbyteri an Block 'B' received GHc300.00 as third runners up. Source: Ghana News Agency