GETFund finances projects for Techiman SH

The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) is to construct a two-storey 12-unit classroom block estimated at about GHS750,000 and a dining hall with kitchen at the cost of GH¢900,000 for the Techiman Senior High School (TESS) in the Brong Ahafo Region.

These were announced by Mr Alex Kyeremeh, the Member of Parliament for Techiman North, at the launch of the Golden Jubilee celebration of the school at Techiman.

Nana Saa Gyamfuaa II, Queen of Ayima in the Kintampo South District and Brong-Ahafo Regional Representative on the Council of State, represented the First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, Special Guest of Honour.

The school was established in 1963 under the Ghana Education Trust by the late Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s First President.

The celebration is on the theme: “Techiman Senior High School at 50: A New Image in Terms of Discipline and Academic Work Towards Perfection and Excellence.”

Other activities marking the anniversary include lectures, with the climax in November.

Mr Kyeremeh advised the teaching staff to avoid partisan politics in the school and focus on their core mandate of imparting knowledge to reform and transform the students to be useful citizens in society.

He explained that their engagement in partisan politics would be a disservice to the students, their parents and guardians because it would affect their academic performance, and so they should stick to their primary responsibilities as teachers.

The Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of Education, Dr George Adjei-Hene, said discipline was key to success in any educational institution and implored the authorities, teaching and non-teaching staff and all stakeholders to ensure that the school instilled discipline among the students to create conducive atmosphere for academic work.

He expressed concern about examination malpractices in both the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in the region.

The Headmaster of the school, Mr Moses Kofi Boakye, said with an initial 71 students, made up of 53 boys and 18 girls in November 1963, the school now has a population of 2,786 students made up of 1,671 boys and 1,115 girls. It has a teaching staff of 85, made up of 77 men and eight women while the non-teaching staff strength is 69.

Mr Boakye added that the school achieved 100 per cent passes in the 2011 WASSCE, and out of 517 candidates, 390 qualified for entry into tertiary institutions, while in 2012, 400 candidates out of 521 also qualified for admission to tertiary institutions.

He said the challenges facing the school included the lack of well-equipped modern library, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) laboratory, assembly hall, a modern science laboratory and inadequate staff bungalows.