By
Eunice Hilda Ampomah, GNA
Accra, Sept. 21, GNA – The Services Primary
and Junior High School, at Burma Camp, Friday, launched its 70th Anniversary
celebration to unite its students with the alumni to inspire them to study hard
to become responsible citizens and national achievers.
The programme, held at the School, was also
used as a platform to sensitise the alumni on their expected roles to make the
celebration, which will climax in October 2018, a success. The Anniversary Cloth was also unveiled at
the event.
The activities include an exhibition on the
mode of dressing by students from 1948 till date; a dancing competition,
sports, and cultural performances.
Ms Ernestina Nyarko, the Headmistress of the
School, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, explained that the ‘Gye Nyame
motif’, an Adinkra symbol signifying the Omnipotence of God in the cloth, was
in recognition of the sustenance of the School and the laurels chalked over the
years.
She commended the parents of the students for
contributing immensely to the development of their wards, saying that, “It is
not by magic that we excel in our academic performances, but it is the fruits
of the commitment by parents in the Services School”.
She emphasised that the parents were
co-teachers and so they put teachers on their toes to ensure that they worked
effectively and efficiently to safeguard discipline.
Ms Nyarko explained that the students only
paid a minimal amount as a levy for the running of the School, in terms of the
maintenance of sanitation and support in the payment of electricity and water
bills, but they did not pay fees.
The School is open to children of Military
personnel, civilians working with the Military, as well as those of civilians.
Naval Captain Dr Kamal-Deen Ali, the Chairman
of the Parent Teacher Association, (PTA) told the GNA in an interview that, the
School provided all the good quality services typical of public schools,
alongside the academic excellence that first cycle private schools were noted
for delivering.
“The School exposes the children to different
kinds of people, culture and backgrounds and provides the platform for them to
be nurtured to become well-cultured”.
Dr Ali said even though the School had
challenges with infrastructure, there had been significant improvements with
the support of the PTA.
He urged Non Governmental Organisations and
institutions that had the will to support a School to prioritise the Services
School because the support would yield fruitful results in the lives of the
students.
“I wish to advice parents to get involved
actively in the Schools of their wards to monitor their progress and
behaviours,” he said.
“It is also important for parents to identify
how they can be of help to the schools to be able to support them”.
The Services Primary and Junior High School
was established in 1948 by the Joint British, Pakistani and Canadian Military
Services to educate their children
when they worked in the Gold Coast.
However, in the early 1950s, they opened the
School to the children of Ghanaian Military personnel, who could afford the
fees to enrol their children.
Upon
political independence in 1957, the Ghana Education Service took over the
running of the School, with Mrs Alberta Quartey, becoming its first Ghanaian
head.
GNA