Computerised admission undermines vision of founders - Achimota old students
The President of the 1966/67 Year Group of the Achimota School, Mr Samuel Appiah-Ampofo, has observed that the Computerised School Selection Placement System (CSSPS) has undermined the vision of the founders of the school.
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He explained that before the CSSPS, admission to the school was representative, as the best in each region had the chance to be admitted to the school but now, with the inception of the CSSPS, students from the rural areas would never gain admission to the school because “If the school is to admit 500 students for the year, the computer is supposed to select the best 500 candidates who selected the school as their first choice”.
“Things being how they are today, these top 500 students will not be representative of the population of the country. Worse still, even this modern system of admission is abused,” he said at a ceremony to mark the 89th Founders Day celebration of the school, on the theme, “Championing education which is nationalistic in orientation.”
National diversity
Mr Appiah-Ampofo said admission those days to the school reflected national diversity, adding that those days, “the population here was by and large a reflection of the population of the country. Our song, ‘From Gambaga to Accra, from Wiawso to Keta’ did not just pay lip service to our national diversity, it was true we came from everywhere.”
Mr Appiah-Ampofo alleged that some parents were using their positions to manipulate the system, and that was not sending good signals, with some students having the impression that the system was not fair and that “everyone must look after himself”.
Character training
He underscored the importance of character training in the school, stressing that it was best undertaken in a residential institution.
“Some of us were lucky to have been in Achimota for seven years of our most formative years. We arrived as 12-year- old young boys and girls and left as 19-year old young men and women. By then our characters were set.
“Today’s high school students start at about 15 years old. Their characters are at an advanced stage of development. They then spend less than three full years in school. If character training and the development of a good citizen are to be effective, then discipline and control of the school environment must be even sharper,” he noted.
Mr Appiah-Ampofo observed that in recent times, some heads of schools found it hard to maintain discipline in the school environment, saying it was a notorious fact that parents with influence interfered with disciplinary decisions of school heads.
“These days, it is almost impossible to dismiss students for serious offences,” he said, adding that character training and good citizenship were sacrificed at the altar of exam grades and certificates.
Encroachment
Mr Appiah-Ampofo expressed unhapiness that for the last 20 years, the school land had been encroached upon with impunity, while the law and security agencies looked on helplessly.
“In the last 20 years or so, a planned and vicious invasion has been undertaken to forcibly and illegally seize Achimota School lands, despite a clear court judgement in favour of the school,” he said, and challenged old students who are lawyers to marshall their forces “to repel this invasion of the property and integrity of the school”.
Modern dining hall
As part of the contribution of the 1966/67 Year Group of the school, he announced that they had proposed to sponsor the construction of a 2,000 seating capacity modern dining hall to cater for the increasing number of students in the school.
He said the building, expected to be completed in a year at a cost of GH¢5.6 million, had been planned to include a new kitchen built by the 1965-Year Group.
Gratitude
The Headmistress of the school, Mrs Beatrice T. Adom, welcoming the old students, expressed profound gratitude of the school to the various year groups for their support, saying, “To all of you, we say ‘Ayekoo’, thank you very much. Mother Achimota is proud of you.
