PREMPEH STUDENTS APOLOGISE TO PRESIDENT KUFUOR
Wednesday, 03 April 2002
Students of Prempeh College, Kumasi, have apologised sincerely to President J.A. Kufuor for bringing dishonour to his alma mater through violent and riotous behaviour. They also rendered unqualified apologies to the school’s Old Boys Association, board of directors and school authorities for their recent undisciplined conduct that has brought the name of the school into disrepute.
Senior Prefects apologised to President Kufuor
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The students rendered the apology when members of the Ashanti Regional Security Council, led by the Regional Minister, Mr S.K. Boafo, addressed them prior to their departure home for the Easter holidays. The apology was in respect of the February 23, 2002 incident in which some students of the college vandalised the residence of Mr Obeng Odoom, the Senior Housemaster, popularly called “O Square” by the students.
Mr Obeng Odoom is alleged to have called for the premature end to an entertainment programme, which was part of an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. Lord Kenya and other top artistes billed to perform at the ceremony reported late, so the students wanted the programme to run late into the night against school regulations. This, coupled with what they described as the high handedness of the senior housemaster, allegedly compelled them to riot, resulting in the vandalisation of Mr Odoom’s bungalow.
Led by Master Seth Asiedu Miah, the Senior Prefect, the students knelt down and said: “We are sorry; we are sorry; we are sorry” and pledged to help smoke out the bad lots among them whose aim is to give the college a bad name.
They also pledged to comport themselves and never to do anything that would bring the name of the school into disrepute again. Earlier, the Regional Security Council met with the school authorities and student leadership during which the students apologised and pledged not to do anything that will damage the reputation of the college.
Addressing the students, Mr Boafo told them to be ashamed of bringing the name of the school into disrepute. He said Prempeh College has been given a bad name by a few bad students and warned that investigations are going on to smoke out the brains behind such riotous behaviour.
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PREMPEH STUDENTS GO ON RAMPAGE
Monday, 25 February 2002
This is the dreaded "OWUO" - the Senior Housemaster,
whose
strictness caused the boys to riot.
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(Ghanaisn Times) Students of Prempeh College, Kumasi, on Saturday night stormed the bungalow of the Senior House Master, Mr Obeng Odoom, and damaged parts of the building and his personal property. They also destroyed the school’s notice board and looted a quantity of soft drinks and food items being sold by his wife.
The reason? Mr Odoom is “too strict” for their liking. An official of the college told the ‘Times’ on Sunday that “Spirit FM” a private local Radio station organised a funfair for students of second cycle schools in the Kumasi metropolis at the Assembly Hall of the college on Saturday.
After the close of the funfair and subsequent departure of the visiting students, the ‘Prempeh’ boys went to their dining hall for supper at about 6.00 pm. Some of the students, after taking their meals, trooped to the Senior House Master’s bungalow about thirty minutes later and looted a quantity of soft drinks and food.
At about 9.30 pm a large army of the students chanting “O square, you are dead today” and armed with stones broke into the sitting hall and damaged some electronic gadgets, lights and louvre blades. Mr Odoom was not in at the time of attack, but some of his dependants who were at home were left unharmed.
When the ‘Times’ visited the college campus around mid-day, the situation looked very calm with both the tutors and students going about their normal duties. –The Ghanaian Times.
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COURT CAUTIONS PREMPEH HEADMASTER
02 August 2001
Mr Justice Abrahams, presiding over a Kumasi High Court, last Wednesday cautioned Mr E.A. Sekyere, headmaster of Prempeh College in Kumasi, for misconducting himself towards a bailiff of the court. He is said to have thrown the bailiff out of his office and threatened him if he dared enter his office again.
The bailiff had gone there to serve him with a notice of a motion instituted against him by two members of staff over the suspension of their salaries and alleged harassment.
Hardly had Justice Abrahams adjourned the case to enable the counsel for the plaintiffs to study the case when he told the court that he had some bad news for Sekyere, the third defendant.
The news, according to Justice Abrahams, was that his bailiff had complained to him that morning about Sekyere’s conduct when he served him with a notice of hearing of the case. “You are reported to have thrown my bailiff out and threatened him,” the honourbale judge told the defendant.
Justice Abrahams said he believed the report of his officer, but expressed doubts if a man of Sekyere’s calibre would stoop so low to threaten a bailiff, whose only offence was discharging his duty. Sekyere was cautioned not to repeat such misconduct or be made to face the full rigours of the law.
Before the headmaster could react, Lawyer Kwaku Djan, a member of the Education Council and friend of the court, apologised to the court on behalf of the headmaster, the school and the board.
Sekyere, jointly and severally sued together with three others, for general and special damages, was in the dock to defend the charge brought against him by the plaintiffs, Messrs E.K. Frimpong and William Ababio, Assistant Headmaster and Economics tutor of Prempeh College, respectively.
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PRESS REPORT OF THE PEARSON-OSAE APPRECIATION LECTURE
05 November 2001
THE government has released ¢90 billion from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) for disbursement to students as loans this academic year.
A source at the Ministry of Education, which disclosed this in an interview, said the loans will be channelled through the SSNIT Loans Scheme.
He said the facility has to be disbursed through SSNIT because the GETFund Secretariat has no structures in place to disburse loans to students.
He expressed the hope that the SSNIT Loans Scheme Secretariat will co-ordinate well to disburse the loans to students as early as practicable.
The source said the GETFund has so far disbursed ¢86 billion to educational institutions in the country this year.
According to the source, the five public universities received ¢9 billion to carry out infrastructural development, while the polytechnics were given ¢2.4 billion. Pre-tertiary education had ¢9.3 billion while other agencies under the ministry were given a total of ¢5 billion.
The source said the GETFund also supported the Best Teacher Award Scheme with ¢1 billion, while ¢60 billion was advanced for disbursement as student loans last academic year.
In a related development, the Education Minister, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, has underscored the need for the public to make dispassionate assessment of the nation’s capabilities, strengths and mobilise opinion for a clear-cut action on the issue of funding tertiary education in the country, reports Nehemia Owusu Achiaw.
He said of even greater significance and importance is the need for all stakeholders to accept their respective responsibilities on the issue of funding tertiary education.
Professor Ameyaw-Akumfi made the remarks in a paper he delivered at the Pearson-Osae Appreciation Lecture in Kumasi at the weekend.
His topic was “Overhauling the new educational reforms in Ghana”.
The lecture was jointly organised by Prempeh College and Prempeh College Old Students Association as part of activities marking the Golden Jubilee of the school.
Rev Sydney Pearson was the first headmaster and Dr T. A. Osae was the fifth and first Ghanaian headmaster of Prempeh College.
Professor Ameyaw-Akumfi said funding tertiary education is an issue that would test the resolve of Ghanaians as people and nation.
He said the public should also discuss the issue of diversifying sources of funding tertiary education and focus should be placed on distance education, post-graduate training, and related research, information and communications technology.
Prof Ameyaw-Akumfi said education finance is an issue which deserves all seriousness that the nation can muster.
He said “we are all witnesses to our inability to complete programmes and projects, essentially due to the non-availability of funds”.
He said despite the problems, the government has, in collaboration with its development partners, strived to ensure that the education sector continues to attract considerable attention in terms of budgetary allocation.
On the duration of JSS/SSS programmes, Professor Ameyaw-Akumfi said in considering the issue of the duration, it is important for the public to take cognisance of the significant financial and logistical cost involved.
He asked whether the country is prepared to bear the necessary financial commitment to implement any extension of the programme.
Mr Kwame Amo-Dako, President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), said there was nothing wrong with the JSS and SSS programmes and their curriculum.
However, he said, certain assumptions underpinned the structure, which were not true and the nation is still grappling with those assumptions 14 years into the implementation of the two programmes.
He said one of the assumptions of the new education reforms was that the government would supply basic textbooks for schools.
Mr Amo-Dako said even though some books have been supplied, there are no books yet for Religious and Moral Education, Ghanaian Languages, pre-Vocational Skills, Environmental Studies and French.
As regards recommendations to address some of the challenges of the JSS and SSS programmes, Mr Amo-Dako said the issue of extension of the duration of the SSS programme should be revisited.
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REPORT OF THE 52ND SPEECH & PRIZE-GIVING DAY
16 December, 2001
The government is critically examining the Junior Secondary (JSS) and Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) system and the current standard and the possibility of increasing the number of years to be spent at the Senior Secondary Schools.
President Kufuor commissions the Science block
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This was made known by President John Agyekum Kufuor, when he addressed the 53rd Special Speech and Prize-Giving Day of Prempeh College held in his honour in Kumasi on Saturday.
It formed part of his two-day visit to Kumasi during which he attended the special congregation held by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to honour the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11.
Tomorrow, Sunday, President Kufuor will celebrate the Eid-Ul_Fitr festival of Moslems marking the end of their fasting at the Kumasi Central Mosque.
President Kufuor said the objective of the critical examination of the JSS and SSS system was firstly to ensure that the youth did not leave school prematurely and secondly to ensure that those who did not pursue tertiary education would be matured enough to enter gainful employment and face the responsibilities of social life when they left school.
The third factor, President Kufuor said, was that, those who pursued tertiary education would be equitably qualified for this and that the state and society should try to avail the youth of ready admission when they left school.
President Kufuor said, in support of the examination of the school system with the view to improving upon it, therefore, government will make nursery schools an integral part of the primary school system.
Touching on school management, the President said the country cannot hope to develop unless there was modernization, pointing out that that was why he preached Information Technology (IT) all over again.
He said: "we cannot talk about modernising and improving the running of our schools if we neglect the qualities of those who run these institutions."
"Gone are the days when simply being a good teacher was enough to qualify you to be a headmaster", President Kufuor pointed out.
These schools, he said, were smaller and the available resources were comparatively better and one could therefore, afford the enviable amateur school headmaster.
"Today we need a real manager, well-trained and well-versed in modern methods of management, financial control facilities and administration to occupy the leaderships of our institutions."
President Kufuor said fund-raising skills should be seen as an integral art and an obligatory requirement for all heads of educational institutions.
He, however, called for transparency and accountability in the management of such resources just like they would manage government resources and said to do this required knowledge in management.
The President said the time had therefore, come for all managers of schools to undergo training in the fields of financial control and administration so that they could better manage the scarce resources that government puts into schools.
President Kufuor pleaded with the students to take the education on the HIV/AIDS seriously and told them that if they could not control themselves and must have sex, then they must protect themselves by using the condom.
He also asked them to refrain from taking drugs since the country could not afford to lose her youth to drugs.
In the academic performance of the school, President Kufuor commended the school for its excellent performance and urged them to keep it up. He was particularly please with the smart turn out of the students and the Cadet Corps in general, saying that he was a founding member of the corps and was a Sergeant.
President Kufuor also expressed his appreciation to the school and Board of Governors for honouring him by erecting his bust in the school and being given a place in the Heroes corner of the school.
He made a donation of 30 million cedis to the school towards the rehabilitation of some of its structures including the administration block and old classrooms in which he was taught as a student.
Professsor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister of Education also said that under the directives of the President, the Ministry was going to take a survey of all 474 Second Cycle institutions in the country with the view to elevating one school in each district to status of the well-endowed schools.
He said the Ministry was also going to take a look at Information Technology (IT) in schools and the introduction of Open Universities as part of enhancing education.
Mr. Emmanuel A. Sekyere, the Headmaster of Prempeh College in his report, said the school scored 99.4 percent in last year's Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination with a student of the school emerging as the overall best student nation-wide and the best student in science nation-wide.
He attributed this achievement to the discipline, which now existed in the school and also said his tenure of office had witnessed the environmental changes in the school.
Mr. Sekyere announced that the administration had turned all pan toilets into water closets and acquired refuse containers to ensure that students did not litter the compound, thereby avoiding the possible outbreak of any epidemic.
He said the school had also established a 1500-acre banana plantation in addition to a one acre citrus plantation.
Mr. Sekyere said plans were underway to computerise the accounts section, the library and clinic.
The Headmaster said their major problem was with the over-subscription of students at the beginning of every academic year and that the school could admit only 800 students out of the large number who qualified and therefore, appealed to the government to consider upgrading the structures to enable the school to admit more students.
Mr. Sekyere commended the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11, who was present at the function for assisting the school with 100 million cedis for the completion of the Opoku Ware House.
Earlier, President Kufuor had commissioned a science block annex, unveiled a plaque for the heroes of the school, while the Asantehene also unveiled the bust of President Kufuor.
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THE 52ND SPEECH & PRIZE-GIVING DAY
President JA Kufuor was the special Guest at the 52nd Speech & Prize Day held in December 2001. He also commissioned the new Science Block at the school, where all science lectures are now held.
With him was the King of Asante, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who commissioned the Prempeh College Heroes Corner.
Kufuor Hints At Educational Reforms
PRESIDENT J. A. Kufuor has given hints of a possible overhaul of the education system to meet the developmental needs of the country.
President Kufuor and the Asantehene commission
the Heroes Corner at
the 52nd Speech day
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He has announced his government's determination to bridge the huge gap between well-endowed schools and the less-endowed ones by the end of his term of office as part of measures to correct the existing defects.
"At least one senior secondary school is to be well-equipped in each of the 110 districts," he disclosed at the 52nd Speech and Prize-giving Day of Prempah College, his alma mater.
He said pre-schools will be brought into the armpit of basic schools and that nursery schools would be seen as integral part of primary schools.
According to Prez Kufuor, his government was critically looking at the JSS/SSS system and added that if (government) was considering the number of years to be spent in the SSS.
This, he said, was to ensure that the youth do not leave school prematurely.
The proposed reform, Prez Kufuor said, would also ensure that those who pursue tertiary education will be adequately qualified while those who are unable to enter the tertiary level are gainfully employed.
The President who donated ¢30 million to Prempeh College as his personal contribution towards the infrastructural development of the school, was given a citation for the honour done his alma mater by assuming the highest office of the land. in a related issue, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) last Saturday conferred an honorary doctorate degree in Literature (DLit) on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at a special congregation.
The occasion marked the commencement of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of KNUST.
The Asantehene is the fifth person to be honoured with an honorary degree by KNUST.
He comes close at the heels of Mr. Kofi Annan, the world's number one civil servant.
The conferment was for the Asantehene's exceptional leadership for the general development of Ashanti and Ghana through the Otumfuo Education Fund.
In a citation read by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. J. S. K. Ayim, the Asantehene was described as a worthy leader and a man of honour who had by commendable zeal and determination and rare initiative and deeds of honour revitalised the entire nation to harness its resources to facilitate the promotion of education, health and industry.
The Asantehene's contribution to education following his keen interest and recognition of it as a necessary tool for national growth and development was also seen as exemplary.
President J. A. Kufuor who witnessed this important event described the Ashanti King as "a great man" whose achievement in the two years of his enstoolment are a huge benchmark in development.
He observed that the Asantehene's efforts at settling disputes was legendary and that the accolade of King Solomon could only rival the original and biblical Solomon.
In a well-researched response which provoked a spontaneous standing ovation, the Asantehene said true education should be an agent of mobility and pointed out that unless education was given a new meaning "we would be racing towards catastrophe."
"We ought to double our efforts if we have to avoid the pitfall ahead of us," he cautioned.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu recommended distance education and open university system in Ghana as a way out.
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