Nsutaman Catholic Senior High School in the Sekyere Central District has climaxed its golden jubilee activities with a grand durbar of stakeholders to take stock of its 50-year journey.
Established in 1973 by the Nsuta State, the Catholic Church was invited to partner the founders in an effort to instil discipline and moral uprightness in the students.
With an initial intake of 40 students, the school with current student population of over 2,000, has produced prominent personalities contributing to national development in various fields.
The event which was held on the theme, ‘Celebrating Our Past and Igniting Our Future in a Challenging Environment’, was attended by stakeholders such as old students, traditional leaders, past heads of the school, members of the Catholic Church, parents, District and Regional Education Directorates, among others.
To appreciate the invaluable contributions of persons who have played diverse roles in the growth and development of the school over the years, special awards w
ere presented to certain individuals as part of the celebration.
Students who excelled in their academic works also received awards as a way of motivating others to take the studies seriously for such recognition.
Mrs. Victoria Ussher, Headmistress of the school, paid glowing tribute to the founders, the Catholic Church and all her predecessors for their respective roles in shaping the lives of thousands of students and nurturing the school to its current state.
She recounted measures being put in place by management to achieve academic excellence, disclosing that about 93 per cent of students who sat for the 2023 West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) qualified for tertiary education.
As a Catholic school, the Headmistress said not only were they committed to pursuing academic excellence but also moral uprightness, adding that, the school chaplains had been engaging students on the need to uphold the tenets of Christianity.
On infrastructure, Mrs. Ussher mentioned a number of gov
ernment funded projects including a 12-unit classroom block, 2000-seater assembly hall, 400-capacity girls dormitory, an administration block, 460-capacity boys dormitory, science laboratory, six-unit classroom block and a three-unit classroom block.
Touching on challenges confronting the school, she spoke about the dire water situation, which had rendered all water closets in wash rooms white elephants.
‘Our dinning hall is such that academic work is always affected since the students have to attend dinning in batches,’ she said.
Other facilities that the school urgently needs, she said, were sick bay, additional dormitories and staff accommodation to enhance academic work.
Prof. Stephen Owusu Kwankye of the Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana (UG) who was the Guest of Honour, said education was the cornerstone of every country’s socio-economic development.
He applauded the government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for its bold initiative to implement the Free Senior High Scho
ol Policy, which was creating access for many students who hitherto could not progress from the basic level of education.
‘I am certain that despite the numerous challenges that this policy has faced, the whole nation in the not too distant future will come to appreciate and commend this administration for this laudable policy initiative,’ he noted.
He urged parents to take advantage of the policy to educate their wards, saying that, education was the best legacy they could bequeath their children without any family member taking it away from them when they were dead and gone.
Prof. Kwankye, who is an old student of the school, said the education he received in the school and subsequent ones continued to be his own property which no one could take away from him.
He entreated the students to be guided by the principles of punctuality, truthfulness and hard work in all their endeavours, especially their academic journey if they want to achieve their life aspirations.
Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu, Bishop of
the Konongo-Mampong Diocese of the Catholic Church, commended all stakeholders whose sacrifices had brought the school this far and urged them to do more to consolidate the gains.
Source: Ghana News Agency