The 2026 National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) has officially been launched, with 174 senior high schools preparing to compete for the championship at the University of Cape Coast.
This year’s national contest will bring together schools that qualified through the regional competitions, along with seeded schools, private schools and top runners-up.
The field is made up of 107 regional winners, 26 seeded schools, five private schools and 36 top runners-up.
The winner of the competition will receive GH¢80,000, with the prize shared among the school, the student contestants and their teachers.
The 2026 championship will be the third time the University of Cape Coast has hosted the national stage of the NSMQ.
Girls’ schools eye history
A major talking point ahead of the competition is whether a girls’ school can finally win the NSMQ.
No all-female school has won the national title since the competition began.
Primetime Limited Managing Director, Nana Akua A. Mensah-Bonsu, has already picked her former school, Wesley Girls’ High School, as her choice to win this year’s competition.
“I prophesy that Wesley Girls will win this year’s competition,” she said at the launch.
Wesley Girls will have to overcome the challenge of not being among the seeded schools for this year’s contest.
Girls’ schools have reached the latter stages of the competition on several occasions, including the semi-finals and final, but the national trophy has so far remained out of reach.
Ten schools set for first NSMQ appearance
The 2026 competition will also introduce ten schools to the national championship.
The debutants are Mansem SHS, Pentecost SHS, Bepong SHS, Namong SHS, Dabala SHS, Enyan Denkyira SHTS, T.I. AMASS (Wa), Jukwa SHTS, Nkawkaw SHS and Esaase Bontefufuo SHS.
For these schools, qualification represents their first opportunity to compete on the national NSMQ stage.
Tamale Girls’ SHS will also make a return after last appearing at the national championship in 2018.
How the prize money will be shared
The champions will receive GH¢80,000, sponsored by the Ghana Education Service.
The winning package will see GH¢40,000 go to the school, while the contestants and teachers will receive GH¢20,000 each.
The first runners-up will receive GH¢64,000. The school will get GH¢30,000, with GH¢17,000 each going to the contestants and teachers.
The second runners-up will receive GH¢50,000, divided into GH¢20,000 for the school and GH¢15,000 each for the students and teachers.
Six semi-finalists who do not make the final will also receive GH¢15,000 each, to be shared equally among their schools, contestants and teachers.
Prof. Elsie Effah Kaufmann marks 20 years
The launch also featured a special recognition for NSMQ Quizmistress Professor Elsie Effah Kaufmann, who has spent 20 years in the role.
Professor Kaufmann became the Quizmistress in 2006 and has remained one of the most familiar figures in the history of the competition.
Primetime Limited Managing Director Nana Akua A. Mensah-Bonsu and the company’s Founder and Chairman, Dr Kwaku Mensah-Bonsu, presented her with a bouquet to mark her two decades of service.
The 2026 NSMQ will now move into its national championship stages, with 174 schools hoping to secure a place in the final at the University of Cape Coast.
