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Teachers Hall of Fame
Updates & Recent Sightings
Mr. Paul Okoh
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Fellow Amanfoo, the following is an update on some of our Hall of Fame great teachers.
Some of them have recently crossed our paths and we feel happy to share the latest on these great personages.
The one and only Mr. Paul Okoh, the Bible Knowledge master and Guggisberg Housemaster, is now a
distinguished Member of Parliament for the Asutifi-North
constituency. His profile
is on the official homepage of the Ghana Parliament. Mr. Okoh as a parliamentarian means that Prempeh's loss
is the legislative body's gain. He is leading a crusade against foreign mining companies that take advantage of the vulnerable Ghanaian citizens of the area.
Another Bible/Religious Studies master, Mr. JA Boamah, also called JAB or Adoram, was last
seen in October 2004 at the installation ceremony of a new KNUST Council Chairman.
Mr. JA Boamah, who is now Headmaster of Technology Secondary School at KNUST, represents the Conference of Heads of Assisted Schools
on the KNUST Council (i.e., Board of Governors).
He is seen in this photo in blue academic gown and cap, on the front right, next to
Nana Akyempemhene (Prempeh Class of '67); the then Education Minister K. Baah-Wiredu (Prempeh Class of '74) is on the
left of the Akyempemhene followed by the University's Don and President Kufuor, Prempeh Class of '58.
Mr. Boamah was Prempeh's Assistant Headmaster from 1985-88 and Religious Sudies tutor from
the 1970s untill he left in 1988. He is the man who made that subject popular at Prempeh.
His famous quote is "reave it this year too, if it bears fluit...werr and good; if it doesnt, cut it down.
(Leave it this year too, if it bears fruit...well and good; if it doesn't, cut it down.)" Whatever this statement means, it is regarded
as a masterpiece in the annals of Prempeh history.
Our legendary Mathematics master, who has trained generations of Ghanaian doctors, engineers and teachers in Mathematics at both the O-Levels and A-Levels, Opanyin Kwadwo Kyere is doing well as a marriage counselor. His audio tapes are very pouplar among married couples in Ghana and he has his own radio broadcast. He is heard as far back as Sunyani, on Space 87.7 FM. He still looks very young and healthy. He is doing well.
Mr. Kyere was the master of parametric equations.
Recent deaths
The pioneering music master who served Prempeh for decades, Mr. Crosby "Osukuunii" Boamah died in 2003.
He was one of the most revered teachers of his time. In the 1960s and 70s, his strong fervor for teaching
and playing the school piano made even a former US Ambassador -- the famous child Hollywood superstar
Senior Kwabena Asare (the former Edmund Tensu, 1967
SP), first student organist of the school, now residing in
North Carolina, USA, was trained by the great Osukuunii.
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Shirley Temple Black -- come to the school to present musical instruments to the College.
He founded in the
1970s the Prempeh College Orchestra and recruited people from the Barracks to help Prempeh students master
these arts and thereby succeeded in passing their Royal School of Music Exams. Prempeh therefore became a pioneer in the field of music teaching.
Many great Prempeh pianists such as the Ansah-Asare brothers, were schooled under him.
Here is one senior's tribute to him.
Mr. Boamah was also a scholar of the Twi language who taught students pure and advanced Twi. He emphasized the study of Twi and Music
in the curriculum.
Another musical genius, Mr. Joseph Kobina Acquah, popularly known as Uncle Ebo, died in 2004.
He wrote the modern school anthem. He served Prempeh from the 1980s until his death. The school choir honoured him at his funeral, which was held at
the Prempeh College stadium ("school field"). Furthermore the students donated 1.2 million cedis towards Uncle Ebo's funeral.
Uncle Ebo in a batakari outfit on the front, extreme right, in this 2001 Speech day picture.
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Recent retirement
Mr. John Adjapong-Afrifa, popularly called Mungo Park, retired from Sofoline in the first
semester of the 2004/2005 academic year. Even though he was plagued by chronic
alcoholism and wasn't regularly cognizant of his surroundings, he was honoured
in the Hall of Fame because of his work on the school farm and for his services to Prempeh over a period
of 2 decades.
The next batch of
Hall of Famers will be selected in 2007.
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