By Godwill Arthur-Mensah
Accra, Aug. 29, GNA – Government has converted the Accra High School, the oldest secondary school in the Greater Accra Region, from a day school to a boarding status, soon to be rolled out.
He said the Government would provide the basic boarding facilities a second cycle education institution required for the school to ensure a conducive teaching and learning environment.
He asked the Minister of Education to fast-track processes towards the construction and upgrading of dormitories, classrooms, and administration blocks as well as a science laboratory for the school.
Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia announced this when he launched the School’s Centenary and Fundraising Anniversary in Accra on the theme: “Accra High School@100, The State of Education, the School and the Future.”
Activities lined up include homecoming, candlelight procession, public lectures, health walk and screening, fun games, and a grand durbar on November 18, 2023, to climax the celebrations.
The school was founded by Reverend James Thomas Roberts on August 17, 1923, with eight students. It currently has a 2, 636 student population and 160 teaching and non-teaching staff.
It has produced high-profile personalities in academia, the medical field, politics, and journalism.
Vice President Bawumia, the Special Guest of Honour, also unveiled a logo for the celebration.
He assured of the government’s commitment to providing the requisite equipment and resources for secondary schools nationwide, despite the global economic meltdown.
Government, he said, remained undaunted in implementing the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy, adding: “We shall never disappoint the youth and our future leaders”.
He said since the implementation of the Free SHS in 2017, it had increased students’ enrolment with both girls and boys enjoying parity in enrolment and expressed the belief that the investment would anchor Ghana’s future economic transformation.
Dr Bawumia entreated the students to develop a capability mindset and do away with the impossibility mentality to propel the country’s political and socio-economic development.
He lauded the past and current boards and managements of the school, as well as students and alumni for their sacrifices over the years, saying; “Hundred years in the life of every institution is a great milestone and opens a new chapter”.
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education, said for any nation to make headway in economic transformation, it should increase its tertiary education enrolment rate to between 40 and 50 per cent.
He said Ghana’s current tertiary education enrolment rate stood at 16.19 per cent, which was low and, thus, expressed the government’s resolve to increase it to about 40 per cent in the coming years.
The Education Minister expressed the belief that secondary education was not an end in itself but a means to an end towards achieving the tertiary enrolment feat.
Ms Evelyn Sagbil Nabia, the Headmistress of the School, in her welcome address, enumerated some challenges facing the school including a new administration block, expansion of classroom blocks, boys’ dormitory, cafeteria, a bus for students’ field trips, a pick-up for the headteacher and multi-purpose sports complex, and appealed to the Government for support.
GNA