Kwanyako Senior High Technical at 25. Achievements and challenges

Established 25 years ago, the Kwanyako Senior High Technical School (KWASTECH) in the Agona East District in the Central Region, has a chequered history.

Started with 20 students, made up of 12 boys and eight girls, at the Catholic Basic School, formerly called Catholic Middle School, the population of the school increased to 200 within a relatively short period, due to the hard work of its first Headmaster, Mr J.K. Kanfra, but in the 1995/1996 academic year the population reduced to 15, a period which was designated as “period of uncertainty’’.

Transformation

However, hope was restored in 2004 when Mr Kweku Yeboah became the Headmaster for one year, and under his able leadership and that of his successor,  Mr F.A. Koomson who took over from 2000, the school has undergone much transformation over the past 10 years, changing from a day school to a boarding school, with an increase in the student population to 400, and further increased to a current students population of 1,780 with a teaching staff of 73 and non-teaching staff of 43,

The institution will hold its Silver Jubilee this month, and the week-long celebration, which also marks the 8th Speech and Prize-giving Day of the school, would be climaxed on March 19, 2016, on the theme: “Discipline, a pre-requisite to academic excellence in the 21st century.”

The school is among the three senior high schools in the region including the Swedru Senior High School (SWESCO) and the Nsaba Presbyterian Senior High School (NSASS).

KWASTECH offers courses such as General Arts, Business, General Science, Visual Arts, Home Economics and Agricultural Science.

History

According to the Assistant Headmaster (Administration), Mr Joseph Salifu, the history of the school can never be complete without the mentioning the instrumental roles of personalities such  as Nana Ampim Darko V, chief of Kwanyako, Nana Okuta, Nana Kumi Prako I, all chiefs of Kwanyako, Dr Kwesi Botchwey, the former Finance Minister and Major Donkoh (retd).

The establishment of the school was the brainchild of the chiefs and people of the traditional area, and especially the people of Agona Kwanyako. The dream became a reality under the  1987 educational reforms by the Government of Ghana, which paved the way for the school to be set up in 1991.

Achievements

He said, the school had chalked up a lot of successes academically since 2012 as 125 students qualified to the university while 150 also qualified for admissions into colleges of education, nursing training institutions and polytechnics.

A number of students also excelled in the 2013, 2014 and 2015 West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), which qualified them into tertiary institutions.

Challenges

He said despite the school’s achievements, it is bedevilled with many challenges affecting quality teaching and learning.

The school lacks adequate classroom blocks to accommodate its growing population, and the authorities have therefore been compelled to convert a one storey dormitory block into a classroom for the students.

It further needs dormitories to house the boarding students and to prevent some of the students from commuting from far places to the school.

Government, PTA interventions

The government through the efforts of the MP for the area, Mrs Pokuah Sawyerr, had constructed new girls and boys dormitories for the school while work on a new dining hall is ongoing.

The district assembly has also begun the construction of an infirmary which is at the roofing level to put a stop to the situation where students had to seek for immediate health care outside the premises of the school.

The Parents Teacher Association (PTA) had also constructed a one storey boys dormitory as well as a place of convenience for the school.

Headmistress

The Headmistress of the school, Mrs Florence Prah, who assumed the current position in December, 2015, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that the upcoming anniversary was worth celebrating and was aimed at telling the success story of the school since its establishment.

She particularly commended the Member of Parliament for the Agona East Constituency, Mrs Queenstar Maame Pokuah Sawyerr, for lobbying for many projects for the school, and mentioned that the MP for the past three years had lobbied for GETfund projects such as a girls dormitory, a one storey boys dormitory, as well as the ongoing construction of a 1000 seater dining hall.