NASS NEEDS URGENT ASSISTANCE
JULY 14, 2008
Report By_ Peter Atogewe Wedam, Journalist
As there are various scholarship schemes for brilliant but needy students across the country, so should there be urgent assistance for academically sound schools that are situated in the rural parts of Ghana.
One such school is the Nalerigu Senior High School affectionately referred to as NASS. The school is located in the East Mamprusi District of the Northern Region.
The NASS though being tagged as a model school in the district has not seen any meaningful face lift as compared to its sister model schools in other districts.
According to the headmaster of NASS, Mr. S.B. Awari, the school has performed well academically over the past few years in the face of limited and or lack of modern teaching and learning logistics.
The headmaster in an interview with the Information Services Department anticipated an excellent performance from the 2008 batch of students he presented for the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination. The female students, he noted have been living above reproach in their academic work and he therefore expected the best performance from them this time round.
Mr. Awari who assumed office in 2005 said his confidence was based on the hard work and commitment of his staff especially the teachers who were always regular and punctual in the delivery of their lessons.
He said he meets regularly with his staff and also with the Student Representative Council for discussions and this has induced high discipline among all students and members of staff. The board of governors has also been helpful with its wise counsel and these have all produced positive results.
The headmaster disclosed that the school has on its course outline five programmes including General Arts, General Science, General Agric, Business and Home Economics with only 56 teachers to handle the lessons.
He also revealed that the school began as middle boarding school in 1965 with just a handful of students. It later became known as the Nalerigu Training College. It was formally declared a secondary school on November 04, 1972 and now known as NASS with a student population of 1300.
Mr. Awari , once an assistant headmaster of NASS, said when he assumed office as the headmaster of the school, there was acute shortage of potable water. This in his words, “compelled students to abandon their studies in the hunt for water”. He then immediately mobilized resources and support and got the existing borehole mechanized and also constructed an additional one to augment the water requirements of the school.
The headmaster mentioned that NASS has enjoyed a lot of support from the East Mamprusi District Assembly and the MP for the Nalerigu-Gambaga constituency, Hajia Alima Mahama who has donated 3000 note one exercise books and a 20” colour television set to the school. Also, the parent-teacher association has donated a Mithubitsi pick-up vehicle and 2000 cement blocks for the construction of staff accommodation. Government also donated a 32-seater Eicher bus to the school last month.
Notwithstanding the above assistance, Mr. Awari said the school is beset with many problems. For instance, the school’s science resource centre that serves other schools in the West Mamprusi and Bunkprugu-Yunyoo districts has obsolete equipment that have outlived their usefulness to the study of science in the 21st century. The centre has limited room to accommodate the increased number of students whilst the bus assigned to the centre has broken down and has been out of use for the past one year.
The dinning hall originally meant for 200 students is now over stretched to contain 1300 students. While Home Economics students do not have a practical’s block to experiment what they are taught, the school lacks an assembly hall to host its weekly Monday assembly and other social gatherings.
Even more worrying is the fact that, a dinning hall complex project started by Acheampong’s regime in 1976 has to date remained at the foundation level. Also, a computer laboratory block awarded for contract in 2005 and a girls’ dormitory started by the GETFUND in 2006 have abandoned at the foundation stages. The dormitory when completed will house about 250 female students.
Confronted with the above problems, the headmaster appealed to all old boys and girls of NASS, NGOs and philanthropists to come to the aid of the school.
Mr. Awari however thanked the Gambaga office of SSNIT, the East Mamprusi community bank, Unimax McMillan Publishers and PARID, a local NGO for donating cash and assorted items in support of the school’s maiden speech and prize giving day scheduled for October 04, 2008.
Report By_ Peter Atogewe Wedam, Journalist
As there are various scholarship schemes for brilliant but needy students across the country, so should there be urgent assistance for academically sound schools that are situated in the rural parts of Ghana.
One such school is the Nalerigu Senior High School affectionately referred to as NASS. The school is located in the East Mamprusi District of the Northern Region.
The NASS though being tagged as a model school in the district has not seen any meaningful face lift as compared to its sister model schools in other districts.
According to the headmaster of NASS, Mr. S.B. Awari, the school has performed well academically over the past few years in the face of limited and or lack of modern teaching and learning logistics.
The headmaster in an interview with the Information Services Department anticipated an excellent performance from the 2008 batch of students he presented for the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination. The female students, he noted have been living above reproach in their academic work and he therefore expected the best performance from them this time round.
Mr. Awari who assumed office in 2005 said his confidence was based on the hard work and commitment of his staff especially the teachers who were always regular and punctual in the delivery of their lessons.
He said he meets regularly with his staff and also with the Student Representative Council for discussions and this has induced high discipline among all students and members of staff. The board of governors has also been helpful with its wise counsel and these have all produced positive results.
The headmaster disclosed that the school has on its course outline five programmes including General Arts, General Science, General Agric, Business and Home Economics with only 56 teachers to handle the lessons.
He also revealed that the school began as middle boarding school in 1965 with just a handful of students. It later became known as the Nalerigu Training College. It was formally declared a secondary school on November 04, 1972 and now known as NASS with a student population of 1300.
Mr. Awari , once an assistant headmaster of NASS, said when he assumed office as the headmaster of the school, there was acute shortage of potable water. This in his words, “compelled students to abandon their studies in the hunt for water”. He then immediately mobilized resources and support and got the existing borehole mechanized and also constructed an additional one to augment the water requirements of the school.
The headmaster mentioned that NASS has enjoyed a lot of support from the East Mamprusi District Assembly and the MP for the Nalerigu-Gambaga constituency, Hajia Alima Mahama who has donated 3000 note one exercise books and a 20” colour television set to the school. Also, the parent-teacher association has donated a Mithubitsi pick-up vehicle and 2000 cement blocks for the construction of staff accommodation. Government also donated a 32-seater Eicher bus to the school last month.
Notwithstanding the above assistance, Mr. Awari said the school is beset with many problems. For instance, the school’s science resource centre that serves other schools in the West Mamprusi and Bunkprugu-Yunyoo districts has obsolete equipment that have outlived their usefulness to the study of science in the 21st century. The centre has limited room to accommodate the increased number of students whilst the bus assigned to the centre has broken down and has been out of use for the past one year.
The dinning hall originally meant for 200 students is now over stretched to contain 1300 students. While Home Economics students do not have a practical’s block to experiment what they are taught, the school lacks an assembly hall to host its weekly Monday assembly and other social gatherings.
Even more worrying is the fact that, a dinning hall complex project started by Acheampong’s regime in 1976 has to date remained at the foundation level. Also, a computer laboratory block awarded for contract in 2005 and a girls’ dormitory started by the GETFUND in 2006 have abandoned at the foundation stages. The dormitory when completed will house about 250 female students.
Confronted with the above problems, the headmaster appealed to all old boys and girls of NASS, NGOs and philanthropists to come to the aid of the school.
Mr. Awari however thanked the Gambaga office of SSNIT, the East Mamprusi community bank, Unimax McMillan Publishers and PARID, a local NGO for donating cash and assorted items in support of the school’s maiden speech and prize giving day scheduled for October 04, 2008.
Comments