A the 91st Speech and Prize-giving Day of the school in Accra last Saturday, the Headmistress of the school, Ms Joyce Rhodaline Addo, said “encroachment, a major security challenge we faced over the years, is being dealt with decisively.”

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She said with the backing of a court ruling, the Ministry of Education, through the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), was constructing a 10-kilometre perimeter wall to protect the school from encroachment. The project is being undertaken by the Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces.

The land on which Achimota School is situated was acquired in 1921 by the then Gold Coast Government.

Over the years, developers have invaded the land and they have sometimes threatened the lives of the school authorities and students.

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To curtail the development, an Accra High Court in September this year granted the school power to regain its lands from encroachers after seven years of a legal battle in court.

Turning her attention to challenges facing the school, she said while its over-age sewerage system was a problem, the school also needed an 18-unit classroom block to augment the existing facilities.

WASSCE results and population

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With a student population of 3,933 students who are in the hands of 146 teaching and 131 non-teaching staff, Ms Addo said the school’s current enrolment figures were the highest in the history of the school.

On its 2018 West Africa Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations, she said 70 per cent of the 970 candidates the school presented scored As, with 10 per cent of those numbers scoring between five As and eight As.

In order to improve academic performance, she said the school was implementing new strategies, including early morning prep, afternoon classes, supplementary story reading and a PTA-sponsored academic enhancement programme.

Neglected technical education

Delivering the keynote address, Dr Maame Yaa Bonsua Norman, a Robotics Coach, said it was regrettable that technical education was relegated to the background and its products among the most unrecognised in the country.

Dr Norman, who is also the Co-President of OAA ‘93 Year Group, said the private sector should have partnership with institutions to provide internship opportunities as part of technical and vocational training curriculum.

Prizes

On their day of celebrating academic excellence, the school presented more than 140 awards to students who excelled in their academic work, their teachers, workers and past students.

The highest applause went up for Miss Eliana Efa, who apart from two other prizes, jointly received the Kweku Asante Memorial Prize for the Best Overall Science results in the 2018 WASSCE with Master Kobina Korankye Acquah, while Master Divine Selase Agborli picked the Robert Kweku Ansah’s Prize for the Best Overall Arts results in the 2018 WASSCE, alongside three other prizes.

The toast for the day was, however, a form one student, Miss Afua Manukure Ansah, who walked away with seven prizes—Core Mathematics, Integrated Science, Elective Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, the Akora Kwaso Akompong Memorial Prize for the Overall Best Student in the Sciences, as well as the Akora Harold and Yvonne Esseku Prize for the Overall Best Student in the Sciences.