National Insurance Debate: St. John Bosco College of Education is Winner for the Northern Zone

St. John Bosco College of Education has emerged winner of the maiden National Insurance Debate for tertiary institutions- northern zone, with 72 points.

Bolgatanga Technical UniversityBolgatanga Technical University came second with 65 points at the end of the debate which took place at the school of Business of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, on Saturday November 5, 2022.

St. John Bosco College of Education will be meeting the winner from the Southern Zone, where eight schools contested, in the grand finale scheduled to take place in Accra, come November 16, this year.

The National Insurance Debate seeks to increase insurance knowledge levels of tertiary students, clear misconceptions these students may have about insurance and empower them to be change agents within their communities. The debate also seeks to inform the insurance industry from the perspectives of tertiary students.

Six tertiary institutions (St. John Bosco College of Education, Bolgatanga Technical University, KNUST, Hilla Liman Technical University, Nalerigu College of Nursing and Tamale Technical University) took part in the northern zone debate.

Dubbed, “Think Future Think Insurance” educational campaign, the debate was spearheaded by the Insurance Awareness Coordinators Group (IACG), with support from the German Development Corporation through GIZ, National Insurance Commission (NIC), Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), Chartered Insurance Institute of Ghana (CIIG), National Association of Ghana Insurance Agents (NAGIA), Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana (IBAG) and relevant stakeholders in the Insurance sector.

In all, a total of 16 Insurance Awareness Clubs from selected tertiary institutions nationwide participated in the maiden edition of the National Insurance Debate from November 4 – 5, 2022 at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology and the University of Cape Coast.

These clubs were formed as part of the “Think Future Think Insurance” educational campaign, a roadshow to 39 tertiary campuses from June – September 2022.

The Ashanti Regional Manager of the National Insurance Commission, Dennis Farouk Dramani, was hopeful the debate would increase the knowledge levels of the students, clear misconceptions they might have about insurance and empower them to be change agents within their communities.

He, therefore, urged science students or students doing mathematics related courses to pursue actuarial science courses, because “it is very rewarding in the field of insurance”.

According to the NIC, there are about 50 insurance companies in the country with few actuarial scientists who help with proper forecasting but are under a lot of pressure due to the workload.

“In Ghana, we do not have the actuarial scientists in numbers, meanwhile every insurance company is expected to submit actuarial report; this is why the Insurance Debate was organized to encourage students to be interested in the course,” he revealed.

Dr. Godfred Aawaar, lecturer, School of Business, KNUST, also added his voice to the call on science students to take keen interest in actuarial studies.

He observed that the lack of actuarial scientists in the country was a danger to the insurance companies, “because we do not have a requisite generation that will be able to predict into the future and to determine premiums”.