PREMPEH COLLEGE SENIOR PREFECT'S
ADDRESS BY JOSEPH OGYAADU OF SERWAH HOUSE, AT THE 38TH SPEECH & PRIZE-GIVING DAY, SATURDAY,
NOVEMBER 28TH, 1987.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Guest of Honour Otumfuo, Distinguished Guests,
members of staff, ladies and gentlemen, Amanfuo, thanks be to God for
this privilege of celebrating our 38th Speech and Prize Giving Day. On
behalf of the entire student body of Prempeh College, I welcome you to
this grand occasion. We are very grateful to Rev. Kuffour for agreeing to
chair the function for us. To professor J.S. Diangmah our Guest Speaker, I
extend our warmest welcome.
We are very happy that you have all came to give a sympathetic ear to
our problems, some of which need immediate attention. Mr. Chairman, I
would like to take this opportunity to thank the Parents-Teacher
Association for its steps in trying to solve the furniture problem of
the school. As at now we have received from them a number of chairs and
beds for which we are very grateful. Just this term our headmaster has
added 200 chairs for form 5, 80 more desk and 30 beds. We admire his
courage.
The government has also given out a grant for the renovation of the
school. This is still being done and we thank the government for this.
It would thus appear that we should have no cause to complain but Mr.
Chairman as the saying goes: "the chicken is cooked but the legs." We all
know that nobody would like to see his or her money go to waste. We are
aware that good results are expected of us to give a good reason why
huge sums of money should be spent on us. All students of Prempeh intend
to give their best but the stumbling block to this is the lack of text
books. Our library is very understocked, most of the books are out of
date or in pieces or going to pieces. For an A-level chemistry class of
about 50 our library has only 1 copy of a reference book and for a form
5 class of about 100 our library can offer only 2 copies of the physics
reference books. We know we should buy our own textbooks, but these
important books are difficult to come by and so we have to use the ones
at the library.
Our Director-General, I wish on behalf of the
student-body to thank the government for the textbooks supplied us last
year, like Oliver Twist "we humbly ask for more." We share the
headmaster's anxiety to change things overnight. Discipline
,beautiful compound, academic excellence, music development and the
physical fitness: he has been preaching about since 1985, when he took
over the administration of this school. He has levied our parents to
achieve some of these, sometimes amid grumbling by both parents and
students. Please Sir, we have only one piano. During the good old days the
school had 8 pianos. This means we need more to help music development in
the school. Time was when several form 3 students passed the Royal Society
of Music Exams in their stride. This time the results have been poor. Our
tennis courts also needs rehabilitation. Our Director General please we
are appealing to the regional director through you to come over to
Macedonia and help us.
Mr chairman, we also have a big problem with
transportation. Our two buses and truck have already been auctioned but
we have not as yet got a replacement. Due to this the transportation of
students, members of staff, the carrying of equipment and chemicals has to
be borne by our one remaining truck. But Mr. Chairman, this truck has
already begun to bend under burden, it may surprise you to know that on
the recent trip that the biology students took to Cape Coast, this truck
broke down about 6 times. At one time Mr. Chairman they were considering
getting another vehicle to bring them back to school. Amanfuo,
imagine, our headmaster travelling up and down to Accra in this
bone-shaker. We are therefore calling on the government, Amanfuo and the
general public to help us out of these problems.
We have been making progress in sports, there was a time when schools like Ahmadiyya and
Opoku ware were to us a pain in the back, but since our last speech day they
have proved to be in no great force. We have for two years running, won
the Ashanti Regional Inter-Schools Athletics and football championship
trophies in grand styles. If we manage to win the super zonals athletics
this year, the trophy becomes ours forever and in the name of
Jesus it will be ours. The out look this year for football is not as good
as last two years but as it has always been in the history of Prempeh
College we will pull through. We still remember our heart sportsmen who
have left but where one has trod, another shall tread. We will prove to
the whole world that they that trust the Lord have every thing within
their reach.
Mr. Chairman, you would be pleased to know that inspite of all the odds ,
the school has been fighting its ways upwards academically. Even though
the progress is slow, mention has to be made of it. At our last speech
day, we got to know of 2 boys who had won International Awards in G.C.E
examinations.
This year another boy Caesar Nana Ofori Ampem, made the School proud by
winning a National Award. Mr. Chairman our Headmaster will soon give you a
broader insight into our academic achievements but all I can say is that
there are more boys of Ohemeng Ashiagbor and Caesar's caliber amongst us
and that if we manage to get textboks, you would never question whether
they are being used or not.
Mr. chairman almost every part of a boys life is catered for. We have a
variety of clubs and societies such as the Red cross, Cadet Corps, Christian
Fellowship and so on, the usefulness of these are seen everywhere. It is
now almost an unwritten law for the Red Cross to man the stadium
whenever there is an athletic comptetion. It would be unfair to say
anything less than that these clubs have helped us a lot. We therefore
extend our sincere thanks to all who helped in organizing these
clubs. Sports in this school is also worth talking about. Our school field
and its equipment is available for any student who wishes to use it and
supervision is done by our indefatigable sportsmasters.
Mr
Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen I have tried to give an idea of the past
and present incidents as from our last speech day from a students view
point. Our headmaster will soon give you very detailed report about the
school. At this stage Mr. Chaiman, I would like to sincerely thank the
headmaster, the teaching staff, the kitchen staff and all others who have
made our stay here easier by making us feel at home. They have always
been with us in all our successes, failures, joys and sorrows. We have been
sharing all these with them. We accept the HUMILITY they preach to us.
Finally Mr. Chairman and all of you who have graced the celebration with
your presence to you I say thank you for coming.
May great mother Prempeh continue to produce great and gallant sons and
may she grow from strength to strength.
