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| Director David Lunan and Founder Peter Donkor join local dignitaries to congratulate new graduates |
Peter Donkor, Founder:
Mr Chairman,
Deputy Director General, Chief Director of the Ministry of Finance,
representative of the District Director of education, aspiring graduates,
invited guests, ladies and gentlemen:
The first
thing I would like to say is ‘Thank you’ to all of you present here today. My
special thanks go to our graduates without whom we will not be gathered here
today. This is your day so make the most out of it. You have made us very proud
with your achievements. I also want to say a special ‘Thank you’ to your
teachers and EDP volunteers who worked extremely hard to guide and guard you
throughout your time with us. My final special ‘Thank you’ goes to the parents
and guardians of our graduates who supported us by making sure that their wards
came to school regularly to acquire the knowledge and skills we have provided
these young ones.
A normal
Ghanaian Senior High School is a fee-paying school; ours is not. We believe we
are the only absolutely free senior secondary school in the Central region, if
not the whole of southern Ghana. By saying we are free, I mean we do not
collect any fees including PTA dues. AWSHS is here to serve two main purposes:
firstly, to provide free secondary education for the needy who, without such
help would never experience secondary education and secondly, to help generate
some social mobility in the Awutu community and its environs. Low social
mobility and lack of educational opportunities is arguably the biggest social
challenge of our time. The income gap between the richest and the poorest
continues to widen, while education opportunities remain overwhelmingly
dominated by children from privileged homes. The surest way to narrow this gap
is through education. We are here to help bridge this gap in the community.
If we agree
that the school will help our children and eventually help our families and the
community, and to a larger extend the country, you and I must work
cooperatively to make it the model school that the founder, directors and
sponsors envisage it to be. It’s been said over and over again that the youth
are the future leaders of the nation. Well, they will not be good future
leaders if they lack the requisite knowledge and skills to compete in the
global world. From the very first day that this school started running, we have
tried to involve the community in everything we do. We continue to enjoy good
relationship with the District Assembly, all past and present district Chief
Executives, all past and present MP’s, the local GES and prominent individuals
in the Awutu community. We have also employed local people to work in the
school. We hope to continue such good friendship with other local
establishments and individuals. In fact, we want more community involvement in
the activities of the school.
Rumours reaching me say that some people think
the school is a “Whiteman’s school” so they dare not come to the school to see
what is going on – they think they will be turned away. That is completely
false; just look again at the name of the school. It starts with AWUTU. Winton
is the name of the school where I used to teach in England. We follow the GES
curriculum and all our teachers are Ghanaians. We also employ Ghanaians to work
here. Above all, I am a Ghanaian. I will be so happy to see a massive local
involvement in the activities of the school. I have been yearning for this to
happen since the inception of this school and I pray that it does happen. Who
can stop the chief of Breku from coming to his school? Who can stop the DCE
from visiting the school? And who can stop the Youth Leader from coming to the
school which is helping the youth of his community. Nobody can. Please, if you
want to come to us, just book an appointment in advance and you will be warmly
greeted by our ever-smiling project manager and headmaster. We cherish your
partnership so do come.
Perceptions
sometimes overshadow realities. Once I was asked whether we will be charging
fees in future when the school expands. I thought my response and assurance had
sunk in until I heard another rumour that we are planning to charge fees in
AWSHS. I wish to place on record that this school is here today because I gave
the fullest promise that we will not charge fees. When we were planning this
project, the one thing which guided us was that no child will pay fees. We do
not intend to charge fees in this school. With the support that we are already
getting from government and the GES, AWSHS will continue to be fee-free.
Now that I
have cleared the rumours, what sort of cooperation or if you like, partnership
am I talking about? We want that kind of partnership that solely aims at
providing good quality education for our students and subsequently imbibe in them,
the skills and knowledge to make them useful members of the community, a
partnership that is free from self, dogmatic and political interests. Yes, we
are a secular school and we will remain so because we want to give
opportunities to all regardless of religious background. I mean we want a
partnership that puts our students first and at the centre of everything we do.
Please, when you visit us, ask questions, criticise us if you think we are in
the wrong and give us suggestions. We do listen to suggestions and we will
listen to you. We are always ready for genuine and selfless ideas to move things
forward here. We started by employing local people because we want to make the
school a local school. Unfortunately, we had to fire a few because of poor work
attitude. For instance, if you are a worker who skips work and also comes in
late, you do not expect us to continue employing you just because you are a
local person. If you are a teacher who repeatedly comes to school late, you do
not expect us to continue working with you. We are always happy to work with
committed people so that together we can make our students have a fulfilling
experience at this school.
I cannot end
my address without saying a word or two to our graduates. When I was at
university I took a course called Abstract Algebra. I think I got an “A” but I
can’t remember a thing from that course now. However, I strongly believe that
that course helped to sharpen my thinking and imaginative skills. That is what
is left with me now. Albert Einstein said, “Education is what remains after one
has forgotten everything he learned in school" What this school has tried
to give you is not just the Pythagoras’ theorem you learned in Maths, the
Elasticity of Demand you learned in Economics, the Bank Reconciliation
Statement in accounting, the Separation of Powers in government etc., the
school has helped you to expand the frontiers of your imaginative capacity. Go
and use it! Whether you got straight A’s , whether you qualified for university
or not, you have made new friends, you have learned new social and
communications skills and you have developed your thinking skills too. Go and
improve your lives and the lives of your families.
Life in the
real world, as some of you might have realised already, is full of challenges.
But, life will be so boring without challenges. We need our challenges and
difficulties to fully appreciate our successes. So, do not be put off in the
face of difficulties and never be afraid to make mistakes. The one who never
made a mistake never tried anything and people who never tried anything should
not expect any success.
Finally,
being successful is good; being a person of value is even better. What use is
your success if it is of no value to mankind? Your quest for success must not
let others feel less human. Rather, let your success lift the spirits of fellow
human beings; let your success alleviate poverty, misery and deprivation in
your communities. My wish is that you all enter the world as worthy ambassadors
of AWSHS with renewed vigour and hope. Go out there, dream, take actions, face
life’s challenges relentlessly, be successful and above all, be useful and a
blessing to others. I wish you well and do not forget AWSHS. We will not forget
you too. Thank you all.
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| Proud new AWSHS graduates throw their hats in the air |
Seth Rockson Adjadoste, Deputy Head:
Mr. Chairman,
EDP Directors, Director General of Education,
Minister of
State, MP of Awutu Senya Constituency,
Regional and
District Directors present,
Nana Nom,
Distinguished
Guests of Honour, Teachers, Grandaunts, Students, Ladies and Gentlemen…
On this
memorable day in the history of Awutu Winton Senior High School, I am highly honoured
to be called upon to give my report on our school.
Awutu Winton
Senior High School was established in September, 2010 with 70 students and five
teachers. Most of these students were boys and girls who had dropped out of
school just because their parents did not have the means of paying for their
senior secondary school education.
Our school’s
uniqueness does not only emanate from its free fee nature but also from the
diverse curricular and extracurricular activities that the students do at the
school. This includes bee-keeping, carpentry, horticulture, recycling of water sachets
and plastic bags, painting- just to mention but a few.
The school
started with General Arts and Business but today we do General Art 1, Art 2, Business
and Home Economics with options including elective Biology, Elective Mathematics
and French. We hope to introduce in the near future Elective Sciences, Elective
Agriculture and Visual Arts.
Realizing the
fact that most of these students had spent two years or more out of school, we
had to do a lot of catching up. We insist that our library and the ICT lab are open
all days including weekends and vacations to enable students to read and do a
lot of research. Fortunately, we had and still have young and dynamic teaching
staff that do extremely good work to make sure that the syllabus is covered for
each subject area. Our teachers ensure that our students get the best of
instruction. I am proud to say that our hard work and the efforts of the students
have yielded positive results in our first year batch of students and we are sure
that the second year’s batch of 2014 will do better.
Mr. Chairman, I
would at this juncture like to mention the detail results of the 2013 batch of
students in various subject areas.
English
Language 95%
Mathematics 84%
Integrated
science 98%
Social studies
99%
Economics 95%
Business
Management 100%
Accounting 96%
Costing 92%
Geography 98%
Government 98%
Literature 84%
Literature 84%
These
students came with BECE aggregates between 11 and 33 but left the school with
WASCE aggregates between 06 and 38. In total, 51% of our students qualified
into the tertiary institutions including the university with a minimum of grade
C6.
A lot of work was put in to producing
these results, making sure teachers got to class well prepared to deliver great
lessons.
We track the students’ truancy by marking
the class attendance sheet on subject basis, making sure that students remain
in class during lessons. We have introduced the traffic light system in the
classrooms helping to identify students’ problems during instruction. Our
students are also motivated in class by the use of the star award system which
also helps to arouse their interest and involvement in class room discussions.
Mr. Chairman, our school can boast of a
very good guidance and counseling unit that takes care of our students’ needs.
We have a dedicated well-qualified and experienced counselor, Cici, who sees to
the needs of our students. We also have a cozy air-conditioned room where
students in distress can relax while discussing their problems with the
counselor. We do not joke with our guidance and counseling issues. We are very
particular with our adolescent health, so we act proactively to advise our
students about health and sexual issues. We even started issuing sanitary pads
before the government’s announcement. This is indeed a unique school.
We offer special ICT training to
students after the normal classroom periods. Students are given opportunities
to sit one student per computer and practice. The ICT lab is open throughout
the week with an instructor, always ready to assist. The teachers who are not
ICT inclined are given ICT training to help improve upon their ICT skills.
Discipline as we all know, is one key to
success in every enterprise. We inculcate into our students good moral behavior
by teaching them to show regard to others in manner, speech and behavior.
AWSHS though a young institution, has
made some remarkable success: we won the inter-school district debate
competition and then represented the District at Cape Coast, coming fifth in
the region’s competition. Last year, we
were first in the Enyidado Radio Mathematics and Science quiz competition. We
also won this year’s; eliminating some great schools like T. I. Ahmadiya SHS and
Portin, amongst others.
We are doing well in the field of sports
despite our numerical strength. We have already joined the central region
schools sports competition and will during the next sports season create
sensation in the region.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and gentlemen, despite
all the progress we have made, our school is encountering numerous problems and
I will like to use this platform to appeal to the ministry of education, the
Ghana education service (GES) and the government for a -school bus to help
transport students to and from school, and a pick-up for school administration.
Chiefs and opinion leaders should come to our aid to help provide hostel
accommodation for our students at the school.
In conclusion Mr. Chairman, I wish to
state that our school is a very good one where students, teachers and
supporting staff are co – existing and working very hard to make this unique
school successful. My short experience here so far, tells me that something
great is emerging. So let us all join and prove to the whole world that YES, WE CAN.
Long live Awutu Winton Senior High
School!
Long live EDP Directors and
Long live GHANA!
Thank you.
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| Local Ghanaians standing with Director David Lunan, Supporter Feroze Janmohammed, Project Manager Marcus Hagberg, MP Hon. Hanna Tetteh, Founder Peter Donkor and Deputy-Head Seth Rockson Adjadoste |
David Lunan, Director
Mr Chairman, Honourable Guests , Local Chiefs, School Governors , Headmaster, Awutu Winton SHS
and Education Development Projects (EDP)
Staff, Trustees, Parents , and Graduates , Akwaaba!
It is with enormous pleasure that I address you all on this,
our first official Graduation Day and the second
anniversary of Graduation at Awutu -Winton SHS.
Our congratulations to all the students for such a fine result!
In the 5 years since EDP came together with AWSHS through
the good offices of Mr Peter Donkor and others, we have seen substantial
progress at the school. And I am delighted to welcome my good friend Peter here
today.
As many of you will be aware, EDP is a UK based charity set
up primarily to raise funds to maintain AWSHS, which is registered as a charity
in Ghana, AND TO ENSURE ADHERENCE TO THE FOUNDING
PRINCIPLE OF THE SCHOOL, WHICH IS:
To create and maintain a high quality secondary school which
is free of fees, equal in its admissions policy, secular in its outlook, and ambitious
for its future and for its pupils!
I am minded to quote the Irish /American philosopher Thomas
Paine who said:
The world is my
country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion”
In the past 12 months in particular EDP and Awutu-Winton have
been working to forge strong ties with the GES to create an exciting partnership
for the future of the school [and we are
delighted to welcome here today the honourable representatives of GES including
:
] .
Our team of teachers under [Deputy]
Headmaster Mr Seth Rockson Adjadoste
is now very strong. My thanks, on behalf of EDP and AWSHS, go out
to all the teaching and support staff who have helped so much to ensure the success
of the school and in particular today’s graduation ceremony !
Also, my thanks go out to all previous volunteers, including
the first Project Manager, James Riggs, who happily is visiting us today, for
all their tremendous efforts - and this year in particular to our current Project
Manager, Marcus Hagberg and his team of volunteers,
which since January has included Helen Owusu, Edgar Guell and Sam Royle, and has
just been augmented by the recent arrival of Letty Lunan and Maxwell Sayers. Thanks
to the dedication of all these young people, who have given their services for little
or no reward, EDP has built a strong administrative base at the school.
During the last year, EDP has focused its efforts on
developing the infrastructure of the school, witness the opening of this fine
assembly hall just under a year ago, and the launch of our long awaited sports pitch which you
will see taking shape just behind this building.
A new and exciting development which I am able to announce
today is the imminent additional acquisition of 34 plots of land, thanks to the
support of the local Chiefs and
elders, who are represented here today, and a generous donation from our good
friend and supporter in UK, Nick Robertson, who was also instrumental in
helping EDP to fund the Valerie Dix Hall last year.
This additional land will give the school a substantial
boost in its longer term ability to expand its facilities. My thanks to
everyone who has been involved in this project.
As a result we plan to extend the sporting facilities substantially
over the next 12 months, as well as build a hostel for a minimum of twenty
places for girls who have to travel a long way to come to school every day.
In addition, due to the links with Peter Donkor’s family, we
are pleased to announce scholarships for four students , two girls and two
boys, starting this September, and our aim is to try and develop further
connections with the fishing community at Peter’s family home in Gyakiti in Eastern
Region.
An aquaponics project (producing Tilapia fish and at the
same time home grown vegetables on site at the school) is about to be launched with the generous
assistance of Mr and Mrs Tony Bart who have made the journey at their expense
to implement the project all the way from Australia ( applause ). This is an
example of the practical scientific links we are starting to create within the
school and offers students in our science and agricultural departments the
opportunity to get involved in a real-time application of their knowledge.
Other extra-curricular activities such as the Abrofresh
juice project, the bee keeping club, and the carpentry club, give students the
chance to acquire practical skills in addition to what they learn in the
classroom. As has been stated before,
one of EDP’s aims is to support the efforts of teachers and students in fine-tuning
the curriculum, whilst at the same time encouraging the development of an
increasing number of extra-curricular activities.
As well as Abrofresh, which provides delicious fresh juice
to the local community as well as to the school, there is now a school bakery
and the aim is to expand our production of good quality bread, with the purpose
of improving the overall quality of the student diet. Our plan ultimately is to open a subsidised school
canteen once sufficient funding has been raised.
Links have been forged with two schools in the UK, the Rodborough
School and Canford School, and there is
huge enthusiasm on all sides which we are sure will result in strong and
enduring partnerships between the students
and staff of AWSHS and their counterparts at the UK schools. Canford's recent trip
to the school was deemed a great success by all parties, and we hope to welcome
them back again in July 2015. A first Rodborough visit is planned for June next
year. The aim of these exchanges is to broaden the
horizons of Ghanaian and UK students alike, and to allow the opportunity for
them to understand more about each other’s cultures and traditions. It should be a good learning experience for
all!
So, the partnership that is developing strongly between EDP
and its fundraising and administrative operations within Ghana and the UK on
the one hand, and the AWSHS and GES and local government on the other, offers
an exciting opportunity to build on the strong educational curriculum that the
school is now able to provide alongside an increasing range of well-founded
extra curricula activities.
For the future: our ambition
is to raise the necessary funds to build the hostel, and also more classrooms
and labs so that by 2016/17 we can accommodate a larger student population. We
also, in the more immediate time span, aim to improve the transport service at
the school and also extend the IT and internet options. At the same time we want to extend sporting
facilities and offer more extracurricular activities. We are confident that, with the infrastructure
and network of members and supporters now in place, we can continue to improve
standards at AWSHS and produce well-rounded graduates who will be a credit to
themselves, the school, and society in general.
All Directors and Trustees of both charities, EDP and
Awutu-Winton SHS, are excited at the prospects for development at the school in
the forthcoming months and years, and we look forward to strengthening further
our links within the Local, National, and International communities.
Thank you.
