Prominent Alumnus revives hope for his deprived childhood school

Accra, Dec 15, GNA -

Life bounced back onto the solitary compound of the Suntreso-Patasi Municipal Assembly Primary School in Kumasi when one of its most prominent alumni returned after nearly forty years, ‘to pay homage’ to his alma-mater.

Renowned investment banker, Mr. Kofi Owusu Sekyere, surprised not only the school pupils, but the entire teaching staff, when he and an entourage of business associates and family drove in and spent hours interacting with pupils and conferring with school authorities about how his ‘good old Patasi Primary’ has fared over the years .

In spite of its changed fortunes and declining enrolment record of just under 250, the Patasi MA Primary school still prides in having produced several successful professionals, some of whom are popular public officers and active politicians.

Today, however, even the Suntreso-Patasi locality shies away from the school because of the lack of infrastructure and an acute lack of logistics ,which has plagued the school for more than 20 years. The school now ranks among Kumasi’s most deprived first cycle institutions.

Mr. Sekyere donated two brand new Dell desk-top computers, UPS, printers and accessories to the school for use as the nucleus of an ICT training programme, which he pledged to personally support regularly.

To jump-start the programme, he undertook to pay for immediate internet connection to the school and pledged to take care of monthly charges for bandwidth over the next few months.

After Mrs. Eva Britwum, School Headmistress and teaching staff conducted the delegation around what was left of the old school, Mr. Sekyere expressed surprise at how so little had changed in the old school infrastructure he left more than forty years ago.

When he noticed that the old Girls’ Netball Pitch had been lost to encroachers and commercial truck owners, he urged school authorities to fight to regain the pitch, because ‘sports and academics go hand-in-hand, sports being one area where pupils build their character and practice team work and must therefore never be taken for granted.’

“I was here from class one through to form two. I and my mates planted these beautiful trees you see on the compound today. It was here at Patasi that I passed my Common Entrance and moved on for my secondary education.

“I am a proud product of good education which started nowhere else but at this same humble Patasi Primary. I am happy to be back here today and pledge to offer my personal quota to help lift our school back to its glorious form,’ Mr. Kofi Sekyere told the staff and pupils after handing over the computers.

Urging the school authorities to dedicate one room for the ICT Centre, Mr, Kofi Sekyere said he chose computers as his first gift to the school because he wanted to emphasise the fact that ICT has come to stay and that the earlier it was embraced by schools - especially those that cater for children in their formative ages – the better for the country.

“Good books can still be bought for studies, but they are expensive and can be bought only by those who can afford them. The entire world is moving towards paperless communication and with all the massive information accessible on the World Wide Web through computers, not even children will have any excuse for not taking advantage of the related educational opportunities’, he said.

The headmistress described Mr. Kofi Sekyere’s visit and the donations as being most timely, highly symbolic and inspiring and urged the Suntreso-Patasi community and all past pupils to acknowledge their educational roots as Mr. Sekyere had done and support their school.

“Under no circumstance will Government assistance to public schools be enough; that’s why the community and past students must help. Now that we are about to be connected to the internet, we will start our ICT programme by assigning a computer each to Lower and Upper primary,’ she said.

Mr. Osei Gyamfi Afriyie, Assemblyman for Patasi, who facilitated and coordinated Mr. Sekyere’s visit to the school, urged parents in the community to show interest in the development of their community schools.

“Remember that good education can never be free and parents ought to be prepared to invest in their children’s education because that is the only way of building their future. If you think that education is expensive, try ignorance!’ Mr. Afriyie declared.

Mr. Kofi Sekyere, belonged to Patasi Primary school’s long forgotten class of 1964, but has since matured from one academic institution to another across the world and currently holds multiple degrees in Physics, Material Science and Engineering as well as an MBA, and has vast experience in the financial services industry dating back some 20 years.

He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of TransAfrica Holdings Limited, a financial services investment holding company in Mauritius.