info@businessghana.com
The St Augustine's College Past Students Union (APSU), led by its 2001 Year Group, last Friday, launched the school's 96th anniversary with a strong focus on a bold and forward-looking legacy project--a sustainable, ultramodern canteen designed to address the school's longstanding food infrastructure challenges.
Held in Accra, the event brought together members of the Board of Governors, the National Executive Committee, the Headmaster and staff, old students, and invited guests.
While it marked the beginning of anniversary celebrations, the spotlight was on the unveiling and fundraising for the year group’s project; -a first-of-its-kind facility aimed at improving student health, restoring dignity to local food vendors, and promoting environmental stewardship on campus.
Designed to sit up to 200 students at a time, the canteen will feature 12 modern vendor stalls with clean water access, handwashing stations, and restrooms-upgrading the unsanitary conditions under which vendors have operated for years. In addition to offering safe and hygienic food services, the project introduces an economic empowerment model, with stall rental income earmarked for the facility's long-term maintenance and sanitation programmes.
Environmentally, the project is aligned with eight United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), incorporating green innovations such as a biogas system for food waste, passive cooling and lighting to reduce electricity use, solar panel infrastructure, and a greywater recycling system for cleaning and handwashing.
The Convener of the 2001 year group, Roland Baah Teye described the proposed canteen not merely as a physical structure, but as a transformative “living classroom” designed to immerse students in practical lessons on environmental sustainability.
He emphasised that the facility goes beyond providing meals as it would be equipped with integrated systems such as a biogas plant for managing food waste, solar energy to power key operations, and a waste segregation system, all subject to the successful attainment of fundraising goals.
These sustainability features, he said were included also as educational tools, giving students first-hand exposure to modern environmental technologies and practices.
By interacting daily with these systems, he believed that students would develop an ingrained understanding of sustainable living and environmental stewardship, preparing them to be future leaders who are conscious of their ecological responsibilities.
The Chancellor of Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU), Dr James Ato Orleans-Lindsay, who chaired the event, underscored the urgency and seriousness of completing the legacy canteen project.
“Monday, we are starting work, whether we have money or not, we need to be intentional about this. I like the design.
The team has done an amazing work using bamboo, and aeration sustainability,” he said, promising to keep pressure on the project leads until its completion.
Dr Orleans-Lindsay, who is the President of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), announced his personal commitment to the project, pledging a total of GH¢1.3 million in support: GH¢500,000 in cash, GH¢500,000 worth of construction materials, and an additional GH¢300,000 earmarked specifically for labour costs.
The Headmaster of the school, Reverend Dr Patrick Godfred Appiah, touched on the urgent need for environmentally conscious leadership in today’s world.
He emphasised that in an era threatened by climate change, pollution, and unsustainable practices, leadership must be rooted in responsibility, not privilege.
In that vein, he affirmed the college’s commitment to producing not just academically excellent students, but socially aware young men who understand the importance of environmental stewardship.
