Accra Girls’ holds speech and prize-giving day

The Headmistress of the Accra Girls’ Senior High School (SHS), Mrs Joyce Acolatse, has appealed to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to assist the management of the school to access the World Bank Millennium Fund to build teachers' flats for the school. She has also appealed to the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to help the school to expand its assembly and dining halls to accommodate the increasing number of students and staff.

At the 57th annual Speech and Prize-giving Day held last Saturday in Accra, Mrs Acolatse said the assembly and dining halls could currently not host the large number of students and that was a major challenge to the school, in addition to the absence of teachers' flats.

“We are calling on the aforementioned institutions to make this one of their priorities and assist the school address these problems,” she said.
Currently, the school's population is 1,873 students, out of which 1,039 are day students and 834 boarding students.
The event was on the theme, “Promoting Holistic and Excellent Education for Nation Building.”

Achievements

On achievements, Mrs Acolatse said the school performed very well in the 2017 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

An analysis of the results revealed a remarkable improvement in the performance of the students, she said, adding that out of the 501 candidates presented, 269 had grades A1 to B3 in Social Studies, 258 had grade A1 to B3 in English Language, 105 had grades A1 to B3 in Integrated Science and 41 had grades A1 to B3 in Core Mathematics.

She said two students, Ms Caroline Briandt and Ms Bridget Otiwa Eduah, obtained A1 in all eight subjects.

Concerning extra-curricular activities, Mrs Acolatse said the school’s dream of having a field where students could train and also undertake Physical
Education lessons had become a reality.

“Right to Play, Ghana, in collaboration with Puma and Daily Paper, donated a new football field to the school. This gesture will go a long way to help improve on our performance in inter-school games, teach team work and help us to keep persevering,” Mrs Acolatse said.

Discipline

In her remarks, a retired Judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Professor Akua Kuenyehia, who was the guest of honour, stressed the need for students to embrace all aspects of education and not only the academics.

She said education without discipline would never lead any student to attain meaningful development goals, adding that emphasis ought to be placed on students’ discipline.

Prof. Kuenyehia commended Accra Girls’ SHS for its effort to bring up students who were well mannered for them to become good citizens and great achievers.

Keynote address

Delivering the keynote address, a former student of the school, Ms Enyonam Baku, expressed worry about the situation where parents forced their children to study courses they had no interest in.

She indicated that some graduates were unemployed because they pursued courses they had no passion for, and talked about the need for parents and guardians to allow their children and wards to choose courses that they had passion for, adding that: “This will make it easier for them to build their future careers.”

Awards

Students whose performance in the 2017 WASSCE brought honour to the school were awarded. Continuing students, teachers and other staff of the school whose performances and contributions projected the image of the school were also given awards. Special prizes were also presented to some teachers and other staff members.

A Form Two Science student, Ms Evelyn Naa Ayorko Nelson, was adjudged the Overall Best Student, while Mr Andrew Ashie emerged as the Overall Best Teacher.

They were presented with laptops, certificates and scientific calculators.

The event was organised by the 1967 year group of the school, while various year groups contributed prizes for the winners.