Obuasi Sec Tech - an educational institution with a purpose
November 12, 2015, marks the Golden Jubilee of Obuasi Secondary Technical School, fondly called Asikafor. A grand durbar and an awe-inspiring home-coming by old students has been scheduled to mark the day on November 21.
Advertisement
President John Dramani Mahama, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and a high-powered delegation from the Amansie Traditional Council, on whose land the school is situated, are billed to grace the occasion.
History
From a humble beginning with 33 boys of the then Government Secondary Technical School under its first headmaster, Thomas Baidoo, the science bias institution has grown in leaps and bounds to become arguably one of Ghana’s best technical institution.
Currently, with a student population of 2,828, which has been largely influenced by educational reforms in the 1990s to embrace girls, its main function of running a science and technical education appears to have been enhanced with the introduction of the humanities.
With the exception of visual arts, the school now runs all second cycle courses, including a Vocational/Technical (VOTEC) programme, designed to equip students with the requisite employable skills to provide the middle manpower needs of the country.
Indeed, by 1970, the first batch of Ordinary Level Certificate Examination (O’Level) students had been introduced to the school and by 1977, the school had been given a sixth form status to run side by side with the technical and science programmes.
Obuasi Sec. Tech may not be regarded as one of the country’s flamboyant second cycle institutions and may not be one of the well-known institutions outside the Ashanti Region.
But just as every institution is unique, Obuasi Secondary Technical can hold its own against any institution in Ghana, especially when it comes to producing the country’s best engineers and sports personalities.
From academia to medicine, through to engineering to football in particular, the institution has contributed immensely to Ghana’s development agenda by providing human resource, most of whom currently occupy key positions in critical organisations.
Alumni
For instance, in football and under the tutelage of physical education tutor and currently the assistant coach of premier league champions, AshanitGold, Yakubu Mambo Sheriff, the school prides itself in producing four of Black Stars key players to the last two FIFA World Cup tournaments in South Africa and Brazil.
Defenders Jonathan Mensah and Daniel Opare, Mubarak Wakasu and Edwin Gyimah, as well as the 2010 silver winner at the Africa Cup of Nations, Opoku Agyemang, are iconic footballers produced by the school.
Providing top sports men and women is just a tip of the achievements because at a point in time, mining giant AngloGold Ashanti, was ‘choked’ with at least 150 products of the school, all of whom were senior staff and engineers.
At the November 21 convocation to be held on the school’s football pitch, the alumni made up of the high and low are expected to grace the occasion.
They would include Dr Owusu Ansah, School of Allied Health Sciences of the University of Cape Coast; Prof. Daniel Dodoo of Noguchi Memorial Research Institute; Dr Eugene Atiamo, Director, Building and Road Research; Dr John Afriyie, Head of Engineering Department, Kumasi Poly; Dr Solomon Quayeson, a pathologist at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital; Dr Anthony Basit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Dr Andzie Mensah of the Efia Nkwanta Hospital.
They would also include Dr Patrick Boakye, Beynat Mission Hospital, Obuasi; Kingsley Kwame Nsiah, Regional Manager, Food and Drugs Authority; Dr Paul Amona of UCC; Mr John Alexander Ackon, Deputy Minister of Women and Children, and former Obuasi MCE, Owusu Gyambrah.
Achievements
The school has chalked up a number of successes, mainly in sports. In 2005, for instance, it represented the Ashanti Region in the national Milo football competition after conquering zonal and the super zonals.
The same year, the school dominated the track and field events in the region and three years later was knocked out in the final of the regional Milo football competition.
Awards
On October 5, 2015, the Obuasi Sec Tech was adjudged the best Secondary Technical School in the Ashanti Region.
Cadet
In 2011, it won the topmost prize in the 4 BN Community Relations drills in the cadet competition in the region.
It is worth noting that some of these achievements may have been chalked up perhaps years after B. E. Godwill, the man largely regarded as the ‘father of the school’, with his deliberate and well-calculated structures which he put in place, had left the scene.
Mr Godwill, who was the headmaster of the school from 1968 to 1980, literally transformed the school and expanded the infrastructure.
The immediate past headmaster of the school, Mr Kwadwo Owusu Akomea, told the Daily Graphic that “there is no way the history of the school will be written without mentioning Mr Godwill. He was indeed the father of the school.”
Old Students
Mr Godwill’s philosophy appears to have impacted the old students even decades after they had completed the school. They have contributed their quota towards the school’s development, including the construction of a sick bay, a 12-seater capacity sanitary facility and a library complex.
Indeed, the school’s authorities have been active in renovating and constructing a number of projects to augment what the old students have been providing.
They include the renovation of the bathrooms and toilets of the five houses, the provision of a multi-purpose sports court to enhance sporting activities, the construction of a kitchen annex and the refurbishment of the administration block.
Challenges
In spite of these, the school is still bedevilled with a number of challenges, the main one being the need for a multi-purpose assembly hall and a modern dining hall.
Currently, the school has been compelled to use a dilapidated dining hall to also serve as an assembly hall.
The school also needs accommodation for students, since only a few of them are boarders. The increase in the day students population is said to be affecting academic performance and discipline.
The school is also in dire need of a big school bus and a functional library to enhance academic work.