Sunyani Senior High marks Golden Jubilee

Page 18, Nov 19, 2010
By Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
ME Man Nti, Enye Me Nti, to wit, ‘It is because of my country and not myself’, is the motto of the Sunyani Senior High School, formally Sunyani Secondary School (SUSEC), which is 50 years this year.
On November 27, this year, this great school will hold a grand durbar at the school.
The school has earned the accolade “Brong Ahafo University” because of the role it has played over the years in the training of the human resource of the region.
Even though this writer is not an old student of the school, as a journalist from the region working in Accra he considers it his cherished duty to let the achievements of the school known to the world.
SUSEC is one of the products of the Ghana Education Trust set up by Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, to put up school buildings throughout the country to promote education and bring it to the doorstep of the people.
On October 2, 1958, Dr Nkrumah, then the Prime Minister of the country, cut the sod to start the building of the school, while on September 12, 1959, the then Minister of Economic Affairs, Mr Kojo Botsio, laid the foundation stone for the school.
A year later, precisely on Friday, September 30, 1960, the first batch of 36 students, comprising 31 boys and five girls, were admitted and they started academic work on Monday, October 3, 1960. There were two classes, Form 1A and Form 1B. The first school prefect was Master Paul Achereko.
On December 13, 1960, Osagyefo Dr Nkrumah officially inaugurated the school at a very colourful ceremony held in front of the school’s administration block. Even though the school began as a co-educational institution, a decision was taken to make it a boys’ school, with the girls being transferred to the Yaa Asantewaa Girls’ Secondary School in Kumasi. That decision was, however, reversed a year later to enable girls to be re-admitted into the school.
Mr P.D. Quartey, who is described as “a bold sportsman and adventurer”, was the first headmaster of the school. He was said to have come from Accra to Sunyani, then a remote area, to start the school, with his staff made up of three teachers and nine non-teaching staff. They did a yeoman’s job to lay the foundation of the school. Mrs Paulina Yeboah (nee Ayim) was the first House Mistress and it is gratifying to note that she is still alive in Sunyani while the school prepares to organise its Golden Jubilee Anniversary.
Academic work was not easy for the pioneer students as a result of the highly inadequate teaching staff, some of whom did not have any high academic qualification and experience, in addition to inadequate facilities. But notwithstanding these drawbacks, the first batch of 63 students, made up of 61 boys and two girls sat for the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level Examination in 1965 and since then SUSEC had not looked back academically.
The symbol of SUSEC is the elephant, selected from the name Sunyani, which is a corrupt form of ason dwae (the place where elephants killed by the hunter, Boahen Korkor, the founder of Sunyani, were skinned). Mr Quartey coined the motto of the school, Me Man Nti, Enye Me Nti, from a speech delivered by Osagyefo Dr Nkrumah during which he quoted a Latin phrase meaning “a man was not born only for himself but his country”.
By the motto, Mr Quartey hoped that any time old and current students quoted the motto, they would be fired up by the spirit of patriotism that was demanded of all Ghanaians and also die a little for the school.
It is gratifying to note that SUSEC today is a great institution with the present administration, led by the energetic and foresighted Headmaster, Mr Joseph Awuah, systematically building on the foundation laid by past heroes and transform the school into a dynamic and formidable academic haven for students who want to make a headway in life.
According to the headmaster, “Even though the school faces a lot of impediments to progress, SUSEC in a relatively short period of 50 years, had taken the lead in education in the region and confidently and successfully rubs shoulders with the long established schools throughout the country.”
The number of teaching staff has increased from four to 71, while the non-teaching staff had grown from nine to 83. The initial student population of 36 now stands at 1,783. It can now also boast a well-stocked library, a well-equipped Computer Laboratory with Internet facilities, a French Language Centre, a Language laboratory, a projector room, among other facilities.
As its contribution to education in Ghana, 12,529 students have passed through the school since its inception. They are grouped as follows: GCE Ordinary Level students, 4,213; Advanced Level students, 2,020; senior secondary school students, 6,296. Currently the school is pursuing courses in General Arts 1, General Arts 2, General Arts 3, Business, Science, Agricultural Science, Visual Arts and Home Economics.
SUSEC has achieved success in many fields of endeavour, including sports, science competitions and quiz. Academic results have been excellent, with the students scoring 99.8 per cent in 2005 and 100 per cent in the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
In spite of these achievements, the school faces many challenges which should be addressed immediately to enable it to operate at its maximum. For instance, the school needs a modern computer laboratory, a well-equipped Visual Arts Block and bungalows to accommodate teachers posted to the school. Out of the 71 teaching staff, only 20 have accommodation on the compound. There is also the need to complete the ultra-modern 2,000 capacity assembly hall complex, which is a Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) project.
As the school celebrates its Golden Jubilee, it is the hope that efforts will be made to provide it with the necessary facilities to enable it to increase its intake and provide excellent tuition and extra curricular activities to enable its student to come out well moulded to fit into the fast-changing world.
SUSEC, Ayekoo, and may your students and staff live according to the tenets of your patriotic motto wherever they find themselves. Me Man Nti, Enye Me Nti!