Methodist Girls SHS celebrates laurels at 35th anniversary

The Methodist Girls’ High School at Mamfe Akuapem in the Eastern Region on Saturday, 16th November, 2019 celebrated its 35th anniversary and the fifth edition of its speech and prize giving day with highlights of the school’s enviable laurels, especially in recent times, dominating the day’s celebrations.

The school’s impressive academic exploits and successes in various national and international academic performances headlined the celebrations as various stakeholders took turns to highlight and praise the school’s feats over the years.

While MEGHIS has under the current headmistress, Miss Sylvia Isabella Laryea improved its status from category ‘D’ to a category ‘A’ school, the school in May 2019 also won the 20th edition of the 2019 World ROBOFEST Competition held in Michigan in the United States of America, won the Planet Broadway Festival and winners of Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) Competition in Ghana.

Additionally, a member of the Taekwondo team, Henrietta Armah won gold medal at the 2019 Taekwondo World Championship in Korea with the school’s air force cadet also consistently winning the best cadet corps during Independence Day celebrations in the Akuapim north municipality while the school’s STEM club is eradicating bedbugs in the school.

Chairman of the event and the presiding bishop of the Methodist church Ghana, the Most Rev. Dr. Paul Kwabena Boafo, headmistress of the school, Miss Sylvia Isabella Laryea, Eastern Regional Director of Education, Mrs. Margaret Nsiah-Asamoah, guest speaker, Very Rev. Dr. Isaac Amoah and the school prefect, lady Jacqueline Quarshie, all took turns to extol the credentials chalked by the all-girls school over the years.

The event was on the theme, "Holistic education, MEGHIS in retrospect and the way forward."

Delivering the keynote address, guest speaker of the event, Very Rev. Dr. Isaac Amoah said sustaining and improving upon the holistic approach of educating young people is necessary to equip them to participate in the highly competitive socio-economic system.

This, Dr. Isaac Amoah added, can only be achieved through well-informed and properly motivated teachers with a healthy sense of dignity, the show of interest by parents in their wards’ academic and practical training as well as a school system that leaves enough space for extracurricular activities and policies at the local and community levels that encourages respect for the preservation of the ecosystem.

He said commitment of government to make adequate budgetary allocation to education, teaching and learning framework that helps inculcate the values of respect for human dignity, and an educational system that, by official policy, does not promote materialism, are other values that can help sustain and improve upon the holistic approach of educating young people.

He however regretted that certain values which provided a conducive learning environment to children were now missing.

“Children can no longer count on the close knit vibrant and close-knit lineage and vibrant community life which previously gave support and provided a practical learning environment from which important values were acquired,” Dr. Isaac Amoah observed.

The guest speaker blamed the phenomenon on the emergence of new cultural values driven by traditional and contemporary mass media through which all forms of information insinuate themselves into the consciousness of children with the ripple effects of “suffocating pressures.”

To Dr. Asamoah, holistic education is an indispensable option for MEGHIS in particular and the nation at large.

Chairman of the event and the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana, the Most Rev. Dr. Paul Kwabena Boafo praised the status of the school as a first class school for many students and parents, adding that the school should not relent in this achievements.

He emphasized the commitment of the Methodist Church, Ghana to continue to partner government to provide quality education to Ghanaian students and urged the current students to emulate the successes of their colleagues and old students.

Eastern regional Director of Education, Mrs. Margaret Nsiah-Asamoah who represented the Deputy Education Minister in Charge of Pre-Tertiary Education and Special Guest of Honour, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa and the Eastern Regional Minister, Eric Kwakye Darffuor noted that there was the pressing need for an enhanced educational system that in addition to building the intellectual capacities of children also emphasize their complete moulding and training.

Mrs. Margaret Nsiah-Asamoah said, attaining holistic education does not rely on the shoulders of school management or teachers alone but all stakeholders including the church, government, the community, parents, old students and the students themselves.

She encouraged school authorities to ensure that students, aside the academic knowledge acquired also play roles that produce “sustainable life results,” to keep society going and ensure that it keeps to its core values and principles.

The education director defined the roles and collective responsibility expected of all stakeholders including parents, school management, teachers, church, the community, government, old students and the students themselves which she noted were vital for the achievement and sustenance of holistic education.

Miss Sylvia Isabella Laryea, headmistress of the school called for the introduction of technical education in girls’ schools for young girls to take advantage of their curiosity in extracurricular activities.

She praised the successes chalked by the school in academic performances as it has improved from its status from category ‘D’ to a category ‘A’ school as well as sterling performances in other disciplines.

The headmistress recalled the history of the school from its modest beginnings till today when the school has been constantly maintaining good academic performance both in internal and external examinations, adding that it would not have been possible without the Wesley tradition of discipline and dedicated staff.

From a sparse population of 85 students in 1984, Miss Laryea said the school now had a bustling total student population of 2,539 while the teaching staff strength stood at 126 and 58 non-teaching staff.

She expressed her profound appreciation to the President, Nana Akuffo Addo for introducing the free SHS policy and acknowledged past headmasters of the school, past and present board of governors, the Methodist Church Ghana, Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), philanthropists, staff and old students of the school for their contributions in diverse ways.

On challenges, she said the current dining hall space was inadequate and that the school needed washrooms, refurbishment of the Robotic/STEM centre, an ultra-modern dining hall, a 66/60 Seater school bus, tarring of the road network and the paving of various walkways.

Deserving students and staff were presented with awards for their meritorious contributions towards the success of the school.

Traditional leaders, the clergy and heads of various second cycle institutions graced the occasion.