Help Expand Achimota School Infrastructure-First Lady

By Abeduwaa Lucy Appiah

The First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has called on stakeholders of the Achimota Basic School to expand facilities to accommodate the current large student population.

According to her, although the current population of the school was close to 3,000 pupils from kindergarten to junior high school, the school had limited infrastructure which was affecting effective teaching and learning.

Speaking at the launch of the 60th anniversary celebration of the school on Saturday, she stated that the school, since its reopening in 1959 by the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, had not seen any major development.

As part of the celebration held on the theme: 'Sixty years of holistic education, the pursuit of excellence," and the "60@60" fundraising programme, initiated by the alumni association to contribute towards the development of the school, was also launched.

Mrs Akufo-Addo urged past students of the school to help expand the school's facilities since they were limited to accommodate the large population saying, "During my time, enrolment was not that large, so the facilities were enough for us.

"I believe we all owe it a duty to present and future generations of pupils, to provide them with a school and facilities that we can all be proud of," she added.

The First Lady disclosed that the school was closed down and used as a converging point by the British government, for West African troops recruited for the Second World War (WWII).

She indicated that the reopening of the school after its closure by Dr Nkrumah, however, made it possible for generations of pupils to be educated to enable them to contribute to national development.

Mrs Edith Kyeremateng, headmistress of the Achimota Basic School, said the school had its first intake of only six children into the kindergarten in 1926.

Activities slated for the anniversary include; inter schools debate, inter schools sporting activities, homecoming, exhibition, family fun day and a gospel music concert.

Meanwhile, Mrs Akufo-Addo is currently undertaking the construction of a library for the school.

The Achimota School was formally opened on January 28, 1927 with lower and upper primary departments to educate and equip students with character training for national development.

This was followed in 1929 by the Secondary and University Departments, offering courses such as arts and music, African dance, engineering degree courses, science among others.

Read Full Story