By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Damongo (S/R), June 11, GNA – The Management of Saint Anne’s Girls Senior High School (SAGISS) in Damongo in the Savannah Region has commended the Government of Ghana for including the school in the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme.
The management also commended the government for upgrading the school to Category ‘A’ SHS status, describing the decision as a major boost to girls’ education in the area and a right step towards inclusive education for less privileged girls.
In a statement to the GNA, Ms Mary Asumpta Mwinsigteng, the Headmistress of the school, expressed gratitude to the government for the consideration and subsequent follow-up on the announcement.
“We wish to express our profound gratitude to the government for the consideration and follow-up on the announcement,” it said.
The statement recalled that when the Damongo Catholic Diocese was created in 1995, a survey conducted in the area revealed a 96 per cent illiteracy rate among females and a 76 per cent illiteracy rate among males.
It noted that females in the Diocese faced various forms of deprivation, discrimination and social injustice, largely because many were denied the opportunity to attend school.
According to the statement, those statistics and other socio-economic challenges informed the decision of Most Reverend Philip Naameh, the then Bishop of the Damongo Catholic Diocese, to establish SAGISS.
The school was founded to provide quality, holistic and affordable education to girls in a serene and conducive environment where Christian values and moral formation were promoted.
“The school is also committed to character development and the nurturing of leadership skills among young women,” the statement said.
The statement indicated that in its early years, the school attracted a substantial number of students who excelled academically and proceeded to pursue higher education, with many of them currently gainfully employed in various sectors of the economy.
However, the statement explained that although SAGISS was a private Catholic SHS, its enrolment figures began to decline significantly following the introduction of the government’s Free SHS policy, leaving the school virtually empty.
It said that when the government later decided to extend the Free SHS programme to some private senior high schools in 2025, the management of SAGISS wrote through the Savannah Regional Minister seeking consideration for inclusion, but the request did not materialise at the time.
The statement noted that hope was rekindled this year when President John Dramani Mahama, during a meeting with the Gonjaland Youth Association at Buipe, announced that the school would be considered under the policy.
It added that during the President’s visit to Damongo on May 23, 2026, a government official further announced that SAGISS had been elevated to Category ‘A’ SHS status.
The statement described the development as a significant milestone in the school’s history and expressed hope that inclusion in the Free SHS programme would help increase enrolment and expand educational opportunities for girls in the area.
The statement said the school currently had the capacity to accommodate about 300 students and was prepared to support the government’s efforts to improve access to quality secondary education.
It, therefore, appealed to parents and guardians to take advantage of the opportunity by enrolling their wards in the school to benefit from quality education, moral formation and leadership development.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali/Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Email: [email protected]