GNA
feature by Afedzi Abdullah
Cape Coast, Feb. 28,
GNA – Come Saturday, March 07, 2020, the Aggrey Memorial AME
Zion Senior High School (SHS), in Cape Coast, would mark
its 80th anniversary, to take stock of its achievements and plan how
to sustain the school on the path of continued growth.
Preparations towards
the event, have been elaborate and that should not be surprising to anybody.
Certainly, 80 years
in the life of an educational institution is worth celebrating – showcase
and take pride its achievements, especially when many of its
products are found in all critical sectors of the economy, playing vital
roles to bring socio-economic development to the country and beyond.
The theme for
the anniversary, which is expected to bring together a large crowd of
people from all walks of life, is “80 Years of Co-Education: Achievement,
Challenges and the Way-forward”.
President Nana Addo
Dankwah Akuffo Addo is likely to grace the occasion as the Guest of Honour, as
well as other prominent personalities including the Central Regional Minister,
Mr. Kwamena Duncan.
The Guest Speaker
would be Professor Joseph Ghartey-Ampiah, Vice Chancellor of the University of
Cape Coast (UCC) with the Right Reverend Dr. Hilliard Dela Dogbe, Presiding
Bishop of the Zion Church, as the Chairman.
The anniversary is
being sponsored by the Aggrey Memorial Old Student Association (AMOSA) which as
part of preparation had given the school a facelift – painted and carried other
renovation works. They have also provided their alma mater with a mechanized
water system.
The programme for
the celebration, started with a fund-raising dinner, in Accra, in December,
last year, and this was followed by series of activities including debate,
general quiz, Science and Math quiz competitions and musical festival.
The school has also
organised health screening and this was done together with the Moree Health
Centre and donated working tools, detergents and other items to the health
facility.
There is going to be
a sport festival where students, teaching and non-teaching staff would engage
in various sporting disciplines including football matches with other sister
Senior High Schools in Cape Coast.
HISTORY
The Aggrey Memorial
AME Zion SHS was founded by A.W. E. Appiah on the 22nd of
January, 1940 with six pioneer students, all of them boys.
Named after Dr.
Kwegyri Aggrey, the Founder’s vision was to perpetuate the memory of Dr.
Kwekyir Aggrey in an institution that offered equal educational
opportunities for both boys and girls.
Thus, the school
is a living tribute to this great and illustrious son of Africa,
who coined the great maxim “If you educate a boy you educate an
individual, but if you educate a girl you educate a nation”.
In 1947, the AME
Zion Church took over the administration of the school as a result of
an agreement between the Board of Trustees known as the Aggrey
Society and the AME Zion Mission. After operating 18 years on a
temporary premises, it finally moved
to its present location at Brafoyaw in
1958. The student population has now grown to about 2,917
made up of 1,317 boys and 1,398 girls.
The
school currently offers six academic programmes – General Arts,
General Science, Agricultural Science, Visual Arts, Home Economics and
Business.
Its vision is to
become an excellent institution, providing holistic training through academic,
moral and biblical education to all. The school has lived and continues to live
by its motto “Semper Optimo Nitere”, a Latin phrase
translated “Always Aim High”.
By dint of hard work
and determination, Aggrey Memorial has chalked a lot of successes – producing
the best Agricultural Science Student, in 1997, culminating in the West
Africa Examinations Council honouring the School for academic
excellence.
Again, the
SHS designed a project to assemble and fly light aeroplanes in
the country in 2010. The project, the first of its kind by a Senior High
School in Ghana, was in collaboration with the Franklyn College in the
United Kingdom and the British Model Flying Association (BMFA).
The school has
also produced students, who have distinguished themselves in their
respective professional areas within and outside Ghana.
Among them are Mr.
Roland Affail Monney, current President of the Ghana Journalist Association
(GJA). T.D. Brodie-Mends, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Cape Coast and a
Minister of State in the Busia administration, Mr. Ken Kanda, former Ghana’s
Representative to the United Nations (UN), Dr. Rose Mensah-Kutin, Gender
Advocate and a Journalist.
Others are Mustapha
Essuman, a professional footballer, Yvonne Nelson, Actress, Mr. George
Brigars Williams, also an Actor, and Dorcas Opoku Dakwa, known in showbiz
as Abrewa Nana, a musician.
The school, since
its inception has had seven male Headmasters. They are the Rev. Dr. A.W.E
Appiah, (1940-1952), Mr Emmanuel Godwyll Biney (1952-1979), Mr Pascal Kodwo
Dadzie Godwyll (1973-1986), Mr Clement Bernasco Pobee (1986-1998), Mr Appiah
Danquah (1998-2009), Mr A. A Amoantwi (2009-2013), Rev.Dr Franklin Boadu
(2014-2019).
The current and the
school’s first female Headmistress, Ms. Kate Annan Wilberforce, told the Ghana
News Agency (GNA) that equal education for boys and girls had
propelled Ghana to higher heights and Aggrey Memorial
had contributed no less to that.
She lauded the
contribution of the old students – AMOSA and indicated that the government
alone could not shoulder all the challenges facing the school and called fdor
all stakeholders, including the Parent- Teacher Association (PTA) to
continue to give strong support to the school to enable it to
achieve more academic laurels.
The school, she
said, had been scoring excellent passes in the West Africa Senior School
Certificate Examination (WASSCE) but stressed that despite its success
story it had some pressing needs, which needed to be tackled with utmost
urgency.
Topping the list of
needs is teachers’ accommodation. According to the Headmistress,
Aggrey Memorial was the only school in Cape Coast which has no teachers’
flats, making monitoring and mentoring of students very difficult.
She is therefore
appealing for the construction of accommodation for teachers to facilitate
effective mentoring and monitoring of students.
Ms. Annan
Wilberforce, additionally, wants the completion of a girls’ dormitory which is
about 80 percent complete to ease congestion at the dormitories.
GNA
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