'Let’s engage SHS leavers in productive ventures'
Stakeholders in the educational sector have been urged to work together and come up with innovative ways of engaging the thousands of senior high school leavers, who for no fault of theirs, have not been able to secure admission to tertiary institutions in the country.
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That, according to the Headmaster of the St Augustine’s College, Mr Joseph Connel, would help the students to engage in productive ventures instead of resorting to vices due to frustration on their part.
This year’s admission of senior high school leavers, made up of the three-year group and the four-year group, who completed their education this year, to tertiary institutions has been beset with challenges due to the limited infrastructure on the campuses of the existing tertiary institutions.
Mr Connel was speaking with the Daily Graphic at the media launch of the 84th Speech and Prize-giving Day of the school on the theme: “Sustaining the Legacy and Dignity of Our Alma Mater: The Role of the Alumni”.
It was organised by the 1989 year group in Accra.
“The students are at a vulnerable age and we must put measures in place to ensure they do not toy with their lives because of the current admission challenges.
“I believe the students must not see the current situation as the end of their lives, by engaging in unproductive ventures,” he added.
He has, therefore, called on parents and religious bodies to sieze the opportunity to counsel the students to accept that they can do something meaningful with their lives, irrespective of the situation in which they find themselves.
Mr Connel also called on the government to expand the existing facilities and also forge partnership with the private universities in the country to help address the problem.
The occasion was also used by the 1989 year group to launch an appeal to renovate the school’s assembly hall. The renovation, which is expected to be completed next year, would cost GH¢200,000.
In view of this, various fund-raising activities have been outlined to help bring the project to fruition to ensure it is officially handed over on the school’s 84th Speech and Prize-giving day, slated for March 15, 2014.
The gesture by the 1989 year group of the college is in line with the school’s tradition of the speech and prize-giving day being funded by a particular alumni year group.
It also seeks to create and maintain a cordial relationship between past students and their alma mater, by contributing collectively and individually towards the sustainable development of the school.
By Fred Dzakpata/Daily Graphic/Ghana