The
First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has called on stakeholders of the Achimota
Basic School to expand facilities to accommodate the current large student
population.
According
to her, although the current population of the school was close to 3,000 pupils
from kindergarten to junior high school, the school had limited infrastructure
which was affecting effective teaching and learning.
Speaking
at the launch of the 60th anniversary celebration of the school on Saturday,
she stated that the school, since its reopening in 1959 by the first President
of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, had not seen any major development.
As part
of the celebration held on the theme: ‘Sixty years of holistic
education, the pursuit of excellence,” and the “60@60” fundraising programme,
initiated by the alumni association to contribute towards the development of
the school, was also launched.
Mrs
Akufo-Addo urged past students of the school to help expand the school’s
facilities since they were limited to accommodate the large population saying,
“During my time, enrolment was not that large, so the facilities were enough
for us.
“I
believe we all owe it a duty to present and future generations of pupils, to
provide them with a school and facilities that we can all be proud of,” she
added.
The
First Lady disclosed that the school was closed down and used as a converging
point by the British government, for West African troops recruited for the
Second World War (WWII).
She
indicated that the reopening of the school after its closure by Dr Nkrumah,
however, made it possible for generations of pupils to be educated to enable
them to contribute to national development.
Mrs
Edith Kyeremateng, headmistress of the Achimota Basic School, said the school
had its first intake of only six children into the kindergarten in 1926.
Activities
slated for the anniversary include; inter schools debate, inter schools
sporting activities, homecoming, exhibition, family fun day and a gospel music
concert.
Meanwhile,
Mrs Akufo-Addo is currently undertaking the construction of a library for the
school.
The
Achimota School was formally opened on January 28, 1927 with lower and upper
primary departments to educate and equip students with character training for
national development.
This was
followed in 1929 by the Secondary and University Departments, offering courses
such as arts and music, African dance, engineering degree courses, science
among others.
BY ABEDUWAA LUCY APPIAH
Credit: Source link
