The Headmistress for T. I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School, Hajia Zainab Adams has disclosed that the lateGhanaian football international star, Christian Atsu promised to construct a treatment facility to help cater for ill students of the school.
The late footballer was an old student of the T. I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School.
Speaking to the Independent Ghana, she said Atsu, was always ready to render support to the school adding that, “ It is hard to come by such a personality due to his philanthropism, his humility inspite of his achievement and a whole lot of things”..
She stated that now that Atsu is no more, it is difficult to tell who will continue his good works, however, she called on other alma maters to help fill in the shoes of the legend.
“In spite of his demise he had already sent a voice message to the school promising to build a sick bay for his alma mater but we believe that once he has left a legacy behind, others will follow and assist in that other,” she added.
Christian Astu was among those involved in the earthquake that occurred in Turkey on February 6, 2023.
Sadly, he did not survive the disaster, as he was pulled out of the rubble dead on Saturday, February 18, 2023. It has been a heart wrenching moment for all Ghanaians and sports world.
Deputy Coordinator, Free Senior High School (FSHS), Nana Afrah Sika Mensah, has asked parents and students to accept the schools they have been posted to.
She said the Category ‘A’ and ‘B’ schools were filled and had no space, hence, all students who were placed in Category ‘C’ ‘D,’ Technical, Vocational, Engineering Teaching (TVET) schools must accept and enrol.
The Categories ‘A, B, C, and D’ are used by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to place students from the Junior High School (JHS) into the SHS and the Technical/ Vocational Institutes (TVIs).
A Category ‘A’ Secondary school is regarded as the best in the country, followed by B, C, and D, and often has the highest grades, best academic achievements, and adequate facilities.
Nana Mensah made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Monday as the Centre opened to receive complaints of parents and students during the Computerised School Selection Placement (CSSPS).
The Deputy Coordinator said the majority of the issues that the centre received on 15th and 16th February 2023 were resolved, however, some of the complainants had returned for replacement.
‘‘Nothing could be done about it, they would have to accept and go to the school,’’ she stated.
Nana Mensah said they would not condone those with the kind of issues to change schools to prevent the middlemen from taking advantage of the situation to dupe people.
The issues received at the Centre include students who have not been placed in a school, those who want a change of school, change of status, re-entry into SHS and Gender issues.
The Deputy Coordinator said a total of 4,432 placement issues were received last week on Thursday and Friday with 2,152 change of school issues, six Gender issues and 51 re-entries.
She said there were 119 and 502 students who were interested in Science, Technical, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and TVET, respectively.
The Deputy Coordinator said the centre would be open for six weeks to receive school placement issues.
Master Kelvin Opoku-Antwi, a student, who had an issue with the distance from his residence to the school he was placed, said his issue had been resolved as expected after he reported to the Centre last Thursday.
Miss Florence Lamptey, who had an aggregate 13, said she performed well but did not understand the reason for her placement in another school instead of Yaa Asantewaa SHS, her first-choice school.
Meanwhile, her sister, Miss Bernice Lamptey, with aggregate 11, said she was placed in Yaa Asantewaa, also her first choice but was offered Home Economics instead of science.
Miss Mariay Nuhu, placed in GHANATA in the northern part of the country, said her father did not want her to attend a boarding school but one that was in Accra.
Another student said her mother refused to support her because of the distance from her residence to the school in the Oti Region, therefore she followed her friend to the centre, to change her school.
President Akufo-Addo has disputed claims that the quality of secondary education has sharply declined under the Free Senior High School (SHS) Policy.
Debunking the claims with figures, he said performance in the four core subjects English, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies had improved significantly with the introduction of the policy.
He noted that 33 per cent of WASSCE candidates passed Mathematics in 2016 but the figure went up to 54.1 per cent in 2021, adding that Mathematics formed the basis of technology and many other old and emerging fields.
The pass rate in English Language went up to 54.8 per cent in 2021 from 53 per cent in 2016.
“Integrated Science improved from 48.5 per cent in 2016 to 65.7 per cent in 2021 and Social Studies made the same improvement from 54 per cent to 66 per cent,†he said.
Not only had more young people gotten access to education but there was a much higher rate in proficiency, the President said.
“So, how can anybody turn round and say this thing has not been good. It has been a major contribution to the future of our country,†he said.
Interacting with the people at Kasoa during his two-day tour of the Central Region on Friday, President Akufo-Addo said apart from expanding and developing infrastructure, there were also key reforms such as teacher motivation and access to quality textbooks.
“These have been major contributions and in a few years time we will see that the policy has been an intervention that has really lifted the prospects of the development of our country,†he added.
The President observed that skeptics of the Free SHS had changed their stance from “a bad policy to the fact that it could be implemented in a better way.â€
He said he was all for suggestions that would help improve the implementation of the policy because the benefit was for the next generation.
“And if there is anyone with an idea on how the system can be made better, I will not stand in their way.â€
Responding to suggestions that the policy should be targeted at the poor, he insisted that he would not condone segregation in the delivery of education.
“If you can afford to pay schools fees, you can take your wards to the private school for the fee paying exercise,†he said.
The President said he was inspired by the story of the United States, which was a developing country in the beginning of the 20th Century but had reached the state of a developed country through a deliberate education agenda.
On access, the President said the Free SHS had resulted in the biggest number of young people ever having access to senior high school education in the entire history of Ghana with 1,765,977 students since 2017.
He noted that most of the beneficiaries would have been denied education owing to financial constraints.
President Akufo-Addo insisted that the system was necessary to unearth the talents and fine brains needed for the development of the country.
