Make girl child education a priority- Naadu Mills

Published in the Daily Graphic on 8/02/2010, pg 11

Story: Matilda Attram

THE First Lady, Mrs Enerstina Naadu Mills, has urged all to make the girl child education a priority in the country’s development agenda.
This, she said, could be done through a conscious effort by the Government and the civil society through education to encourage the enrolment of girl child in schools throughout the country.
Mrs Mills was speaking at the 60th anniversary speech and prize giving day celebration of the St Mary’s Senior High School in Accra at the weekend.
It was on the theme, “6O Years of Progressive and Holistic Girls’ Education: The Challenges of the 21st Century”.
“Is it a wonder that education has produced our first woman Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Wood , the first woman speaker of Parliament, Madam Justice Joyce Bamford Addo, the first woman Director of Immigration, Ms Elizabeth Adjei and the first woman statistician, Dr Grace Bediako,” she stated.
Mrs Mills stated that formal education was vital to the individual in present day society due to the important roles it played in life, adding that "the success or failure of a person depends on the holistic development of the human mind, body and soul”.
She noted that knowledge, understanding and wisdom were the three elements required by education to make one’s human personality to become complete.
“Without formal education, one is unable to obtain a job or be successful in whatever environment she may find herself in. Therefore if a person goes through school, she must ensure that she goes through all the facets, otherwise her education is incomplete”, Mrs Mills stated.
She challenged current students of the school to be confident, bold and hardworking in all activities as well as take advantage of the modern facilities of the 21st century such as Information Technology (IT) to improve on their academics.
Mrs Mills also called on old students of the school to present themselves as role models to the current students.
In her address, the Headmistress of the school Ms Doris Ama Bramson indicated that for several years the school had been rated among the 20 schools that fed the country's three main universities.
She said this was achieved through the innovative policies, strict supervision and monitoring of students’ academic performance.
The headmistress said the school's administration applied time tested Catholic discipline which made students understand the distinct relationship between discipline and academic performance.
She noted that the school scored 100 percent passes in 14 out of 21 subjects registered for the 2009 West Africa Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and hoped that 82 percent of the 240 candidates presented for the examination would qualify for admission into tertiary institutions.
Over the period, the headmistress said the school recorded 95 percent passes in 21 registered subjects in the Senior Secondary Scholl Certificate Examination (SSSCE) and WASSCE. Out of the 240 candidates presented for the 2009 WASSCE examinations, 52.5 percent passed in all 8 subjects, 35.8 percent passed in 7 subjects, 6.7 percent passed 6 subjects and 5 percent passed in 5 subjects," she stated.
Ms Bramson pointed out that apart from excelling in , the school also performed well in other activities which included sports and other social club activities which sought to enrich the lives of students of the school.
She commended the old students association and Parent Teacher Association (PTA) for their support and mentioned the lack of classroom accommodation and an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) department as the challenges facing the school.
The President of the St Mary's Old Students Association (SMOGA), Mrs Grace Amarteifio, expressed the need to instil discipline in students and called on parents to get involved in educating their children, especially girls by support and supervising them.
She also urged the current students to be respectful and disciplined.
She pledged on behalf of the association to build four new bungalows for members of staff of the school.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma South, Mr Fritz Baffour, used the opportunity to donate 40 pieces of brand new Dell computers and GH¢1,000 as a birthday present to the school and also pledged the establishment of a multi-purpose volley and basketball court, hoped to be completed in the first quarter of next year.
Present at the function were the Metropolitan ARchbishop of Accra, the Most Rev. Charles Palmer Buckle, representatives of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education, and heads of some senior high schools in the country.