St Louis SHS marks 65 years of academic excellence

There is no designated name for 65th anniversaries, unlike 25th and 50th which are termed silver and golden anniversary respectively. Sixty years of existence and producing the best in the field of academia and other aspects of human endeavour is by no means a fluke.

St Louis Senior High School in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region has reached that milestone; six and half decades of providing academic excellence in a multidisciplinary fashion.

65 years

To commemorate the anniversary, current and former students and staff, their families, affiliates of the school and the general public are expected to join St Loius to mark that distinguished legacy of teaching and learning.

For the first time, a year group of the school, the 1992 group, will be hosting the anniversary, slated for June 23 to 25, this year in Kumasi. It is on the theme, ‘Equipping the Girl Child for Leadership; Giving Back to Society’.

Activities lined up for the anniversary include a mentoring session with past students who are in various professions; health screening, variety show; speech and prize giving day, dinner dance and climax it with a thanksgiving Catholic mass.

Some successes

The school started with 12 girls, and now has a population of 2,400 students.

Achievements by the school in the last few years include 2016 Ashanti Region Champions of the Science and Maths Quiz; the 2016 Regional Hockey Champions and Second in Regional Handball Competition.

It also annexed the Inter Zonal Best Behaved School trophy for five consecutive years.
The Headmistress of the school, Mrs Theresa Addae Commey, told the Daily Graphic that in terms of academics, St. Loius had consistently improved its showing in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

“Now more of our girls are doing science. That is to say that over 900 girls out of 2,400 girls are studying science and our products are found in tertiary institutions doing well in science related programmes,” she said.

She said for the past three years since 2014, the St Louis’ Cadet Corps had placed first in Independence Parade March Past in Kumasi.

Challenges

Mrs Commey said accommodation for staff wa a major challenge with just 30 teachers out of 100 living on campus.

“There are crowded dormitories because of the increasing numbers. Church service and dining times are conducted in two batches as a result of increasing numbers. All these tend to bring about indiscipline and difficulty in managing the time table and other related issues,” she said.

Projects

The St Louis Past Students Association (SLOPSA) is raising funds to support the construction of a 600-bed dormitory for the school.

The project, estimated at $700,000 (GH¢2.7 million), is expected to ease the congestion that has resulted from the increase in admissions in recent years.

The association said the investment would greatly help to continue the success story and achievements of St Louis SHS, where brilliant girls continued to pursue their dreams to make an impact on society.

Previously, SLOPSA had provided computers and furniture for the school’s computer laboratory, purchased water storage tanks for the school and renovated the washroom facility for the day students of the school.

The National President of SLOPSA, SLOPSAN Juliana Bruce, said 65 years was no mean attainment, saying in spite of the challenges the school had managed to maintain its standards and that called for celebration.

“We are inviting all current and past students, families and who are moved to support girl-child education to the anniversary and homecoming this month,” she said.

She called on all SLOPSA members to support the 1992 year group for them to undertake the projects they had lined up.

The Leader of 1992 group, SLOPSAN Barbara Lokko, said the desire to host the anniversary, which coincided with their 25 years after school, was mooted two years ago as way of giving back to their alma mater.

She said they were embarking on a GH₵80,000 project for the school and that included the purchase a commercial lawn mower, solar energy panel for some classroom blocks and sponsorship of awards for students, teachers and others.

Background

The school was established in 1952 in line with the policy of the Catholic Church to give equal educational opportunities to boys and girls. The church invited the St. Louis Sisters of Ireland to manage the school.

It was initially sited at Mbrom, a suburb in Kumasi and the current site of St. Louis College of Education, but moved to its current site Oduom in 1960.

Realising there were no permanent buildings, the sisters lived frugal lives and were able to save part of their meagre salaries. This they contributed towards the building of St Louis SHS.

Following the training from the Sisters, students are religiously oriented, psychologically balanced, physically fit, morally upright and, above all, academically outstanding.

The motto of the school, which was inspired by the principles of the Sisters of St Louis, is “Dieu Le Veut” (God wills it).

Even before girl-child education became a focus in education in Ghana, the Catholic Church and St. Louis Sisters understood its importance such that they have always adopted a holistic approach to education.

To the surprise of most people, St. Louis has few male alumni. In the early 1970’s, the school admitted boys into Sixth Form and this ended in the early 1980’s.

Akataslopsa

Incidentally, St Louis was established in the same year that the government of the then Gold Coast built a boys’ secondary school, Opoku Ware Senior High School (Akatakyie), in Kumasi and asked the Catholic Church to own and run it.

Thereafter, the two schools formed an alliance. Akataslopsa is conspicuous in almost all the tertiary institutions in the country and even beyond.

They organise several activities together whether within or outside the schools. In fact, some SLOPSANS are married to Akatakyies.