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Dr Aggrey’s contribution to education lauded

Two descendants of Dr James Kwegyir Aggrey have extolled the values and contributions of the late  intellectual, missionary and scholar, who contributed to the development of Achimota School and education in general.

A granddaughter of Dr Aggrey, Mrs Harriet Graves, and her daughter, Ms Meredith Graves, who are based in the United States, paid glowing tribute to Dr Aggrey, who happened to be one of the founders and the first Vice-Principal of the school, for championing the education of women.

They said this in separate interviews with the Daily Graphic at a dinner organised by the Old Achimotans Association (OAA) on Tuesday in Accra.

Old students 

The event was to provide the platform for the old students to fraternise with Mrs Graves, her husband, Mr Hubert Graves, and their daughter, who are visiting the country and Africa for the first time.

Old Achimotans, including former President J.J. Rawlings and his wife, Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings; Dr S.K.B. Asante, Mr K.B. Asante and Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, attended the programme.

Dr Aggrey, who died in 1927, among other things, is famously known to have made a powerful speech during his visit to South Africa on a mission to improve Africa’s education, by using the keys of the piano as an imagery of racial harmony.

According to him, “If you play only the white notes on a piano you get only sharps; if only the black keys you get flats; but if you play the two together you get harmony and beautiful music”. He was also reported to have said that “if you educate a man you educate an individual but if you educate a woman you educate an entire nation.”

Founders of the school

Governor Sir Gordon Guggisberg,  Rev. A.G. Fraser, the first Principal of the school, and Dr Aggrey are regarded as the triumvirate or the three founders of the school.  The school, therefore, celebrates its Founders’ Day on the first Saturday of March every year.

Mrs Graves said she was in Ghana to see her relatives and “her school, Achimota School, because I think I am part of it.”

“The school is beautiful, the students are so well-behaved and focused and the faculty and staff are just great. I think my grandfather would be so proud of the school,” she said and added that she was going to discuss with the authorities how she could contribute her quota to the school.

Her daughter, Ms Graves, said she had looked forward to visiting Ghana and the Achimota School for a long time.

Old Achimotans

An economist, Mr Kwame Pianim, who addressed the gathering, said the old Achimotans wanted to show solidarity and gratitude “we owe to the ideas of Dr Aggrey”, who helped to establish the school.

He said Dr Aggrey lived for 52 years and achieved world recognition as a great educationist, philosopher and humanist who preached inter-racial co-operation.

Mr Pianim said in his 20s, Dr Aggrey had already become a headmaster of Wesleyan Memorial School in Cape Coast. He added: “Dr Aggrey spent barely three years at Achimota School and yet his impact is indelible and visually present, shown in our school crest of black and white piano keys, Aggrey House and his bust on the compound.”

 

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