By Yussif Ibrahim
Obuasi (Ash), Nov. 28, GNA – Students have been encouraged to embrace technology for their holistic development and catch up with their contemporaries across the world.
They must reposition themselves and take advantage of the numerous interventions introduced by the government to promote Information Communication Technology (ICT) education.
Mr George Alfred Koomson, Obuasi Municipal Director of Education who gave the advice, said it was important as a nation to leverage technology to drive economic growth through the education system.
He was speaking at the seventh graduation ceremony of AngloGold Ashanti School in Obuasi on the theme, “Making the 21st Century Learner a Critical Thinker.”
He said the theme was apt and in sync with the government’s agenda to restructure the education curriculum at the pre-tertiary level to sharpen the critical thinking skills of learners, to ultimately make them problem solvers.
He added that the new standard-based curriculum was characterised by abstract, formal and logical thinking and targeted at assisting the learner to be able to think, analyse, store, retrieve and manage information around his/her environment and find solutions to problems around them.
He lauded the management of the school for maintaining high standards as a model school in the country over the years.
The Director said the school since its establishment over 60 years ago had chalked a lot of successes primarily due to the effective collaboration between the management of the school and teachers.
“I want to say thank you to AngloGold Ashanti for its contribution towards education in Obuasi by establishing the school and making efforts to improve its facilities “.
Mr Simon Peter Attah-Cato, the Executive Director of the school said the school had since 2018 recorded the best Basic Education Certificate Examination results in the Ashanti Region and one of the best in the country.
He disclosed that in the past four years, the school had bagged two Presidential awards making it a force to reckon with in the country as far as education was concerned.
“In 2021, of the 138 students we presented for the BECE, 134 of them obtained an aggregate six to 12 representing 97 per cent. Four of them had between the aggregate of 13 and 1.
“We promise not to rest on oars but will make conscious efforts to exceed performances in the previous years,” he assured.
Mr Eric Asubonteng, Managing Director of Anglogold Ashanti, Obuasi Mine said the school had over the years become the centre of excellence in education in the Ashanti Region, a feat that stakeholders could be proud of.
He said currently 80 per cent of students in the school are wards of non-employees of the mine, gradually giving opportunities for people in and around Obuasi to have access to the school.
He pledged AGA’s commitment to maintaining the enviable reputation of the school by supporting it sustainably as an autonomous entity to serve the community.
About 625 students from various grades graduated on the day.
They were made up of 191 from the KG, 226 from Grade 6 and 208 JHS students who completed this year.
GNA