NSMQ: We place premium on fairness – Organizers respond to Prempeh College

Organizers of the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) competition have responded to the issues raised by Prempeh College following the school’s exit from the 2023 edition of the competition during the semi-final stage.

Primetime Limited said that they place a premium on fairness to all participating schools, which is why they allow protests from schools, to ensure that there is fairness in the adjudication of contests.

Where a school’s protest is found to have merit, the error is rectified and the appropriate marks are awarded to them, they said.

The management of Prempeh College had said while protesting the exit of the school from this year’s competition that the competition had over the years been characterized by wrong calculations by organizers.

They observed that the competition is taking on a computation that does not augur well for the future of the contest.

Acting for and on behalf of Prempeh College, the coordinators of the Prempeh College NSMQ team and Old Boys wrote to register their displeasure at the events leading to the conclusion of the 2nd Semifinal contest of the competition held at the Saarah Mensah Auditorium of KNUST Kumasi Thursday 19th day of October 2023 among Prempeh College, Pope Johns Senior High and Opoku Ware School.

At the end of the contest Prempeh College had 36 points, Pope John had 36 and Opoku Ware School had 38, the Quiz Mistress, Professor Elsie EffahKaufman, said.

But Prempeh College were unhappy with the results.

“We have however noticed that over time the competition is taking on a computation that does not augur well for the future of the contest. Over the years we have had to endure a few missteps and miscalculations on the part of the organizers which have been inimical to our interest.

 

“We are however constrained at this time to protest and draw your attention to the glaring injustice meted to us and to seek your urgent intervention to right an obvious injustice and repair a wrong,” a statement the issue stated.

Prempeh College protest

In a statement reacting to their concerns, Prime Time Procustion said “Indeed, we are known to pause contests, so as to resolve a protest that has been made by a school. In this instance, the Prempeh team’s protest was reviewed by the Physics consultant, who then explained the concepts to the team, which the team accepted. Consequently, this turnaround and insinuation that a deliberate injustice has been carried out against Prempeh College is rather surprising.

“The ability to protest a question, answer, or mode of adjudication is not a new one and we would like Prempeh College to use the procedure described in the NSMQ Rules to address their grievances, rather than to resort to a smear campaign on social media. Sullying the reputation of the competition is not an action one takes when one is truly gracious in defeat; disagreeing, but accepting the outcome in good faith is graciousness in defeat.

“We would like to reiterate that Primetime has no interest whatsoever, in which school wins, or loses a contest, or, ultimately, the championship trophy. We place a very high premium on the integrity of the programme and so go to great lengths, too numerous to recount here, to protect it.

Below is the full statement…

RE: PROTEST OF RESULTS OF NSMQ SEMI-FINALS BETWEEN PREMPEH COLLEGE, OPOKU WARE SCHOOL AND POPE JOHN SHS

We write in reference to your petition on the above subject dated October 19, 2023, in which you disputed the answer to a riddle in the fifth round of the competition, and called for a review and acceptance of your contestant’s answer, as well as the overturn of the results of your contest in favour of Prempeh College.

In your petition, you cited many sources and claimed that the principle of superposition is the same as the principle of linear superposition and so your contestant’s answer of principle of superposition deserved full marks.

Below are the comments of the Physics Consultant, Dr. Amos Kuditcher and the Quiz Mistress, Professor Elsie Effah Kaufmann, with respect to the answer to the riddle:

The protest from Prempeh College concerns a riddle for which clues were given that point to the linear superposition principle. In interactions with the complainants on their protest, no reference to exponential superposition was made. Instead, a nonlinear superposition relevant to intensity was given as a counterexample, which seemed to satisfy the protesters. Indeed, there are situations where electric fields participate in nonlinear processes in which combining two fields produces a field that does not equal the sum of the fields, the associated phenomena constituting a vibrant branch of Physics.

The clues in the riddle in question were intended to prompt the specific response “(Principle of) Linear Superposition” and enough were given. The claim that no clue restricts the answer to linear superposition is not supported by clues 4 and 5. Specifically, the examples given in the last clue, namely, electric field and scalar potential calculations as practiced by SHS students, point directly to linear superposition. Electric circuits constitute a topic under electromagnetism, one of the examples given in clue 3. However, nonlinear electric circuits and devices are well- known, so it is not clear how a specific reference to electric circuits would restrict the answer to linear superposition. The clarity sought by the protesters in their letter is given on the last page of their document, where the principle of linear superposition as a linear combination is explained.

The Quiz Mistress exercises discretion on whether an answer provided by a contestant is sufficiently responsive and would have accepted the answer given by the Prempeh College contestants if, in her professional opinion, the target key and the answer given by the contestants were synonymous. She did not in this case, opting instead to maintain the more precise original key. When the complaint came to the attention of the Physics consultant, full consideration was given to all the issues raised and the protesters, after receiving complete attention, were satisfied with the explanation and counterexample that were given by the consultant.

The Quiz Mistress’s ruling is affirmed.

While we greatly appreciate Prempeh College’s keen interest and passion for the NSMQ, we draw the line at insinuations of bias and attempts to favour some schools. We place premium on fairness to all participating schools, which is why we allow protests from schools, to ensure that there is fairness in the adjudication of contests. Where a school’s protest is found to have merit, the error is rectified and the appropriate marks are awarded to them. Indeed, we are known to pause contests, so as to resolve a protest that has been made by a school. In this instance, the Prempeh team’s protest was reviewed by the Physics consultant, who then explained the concepts to the team, which the team accepted. Consequently, this turnaround and insinuation that a deliberate injustice has been carried out against Prempeh College is rather surprising.

The ability to protest a question, answer, or mode of adjudication is not a new one and we would like Prempeh College to use the procedure described in the NSMQ Rules to address their grievances, rather than to resort to a smear campaign on social media. Sullying the reputation of the competition is not an action one takes when one is truly gracious in defeat; disagreeing, but accepting the outcome in good faith is graciousness in defeat.

We would like to reiterate that Primetime has no interest whatsoever, in which school wins, or loses a contest, or, ultimately, the championship trophy. We place a very high premium on the integrity of the programme and so go to great lengths, too numerous to recount here, to protect it.

It would be very unfortunate for anyone to dismiss the great effort and investment of time and money that the contestants and trainers put into preparing their teams to excel at this competition, by insinuating that Primetime is biased towards some schools and manipulates contests in their favour. A five-time champion knows, from experience, the challenges preparing for and triumphing over all other participants present to the team and how much hard work goes on behind the scenes and on stage, to produce excellent results at each edition of the NSMQ.

We appreciate the exciting and passionate contests you have given us at NSMQ 2023 and wish you the very best in future editions of the National Science & Maths Quiz.

Best regards.

Yours sincerely,

NANA AKUA A. MENSA-BONSU MANAGING DIRECTOR

 

Source: 3News.com