The Mfantsipim Senior High School has banned its students from writing in this year’s November/December (Nov/Dec) West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for private candidates.
According to the Headmaster of the school, Mr Manfred Barton Oduro, the move was to enable the students to concentrate on the main WASSCE examination in order to maximise the school’s passes in the final exams.
Speaking at the 2019 Annual National Conference and Business Fair of the Mfantsipim Old Boys Association (MOBA) in Accra on Saturday, Mr Oduro expressed disappointment at the fact that, while 24 of its candidates scored eight A1s in the 2017 WASSCE, this reduced to three in 2018.
He said investigations conducted into the matter revealed that some of the students who took part in the 2017 November/December examination performed “excellently” and therefore, showed ‘little interest’ in the main examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council for final year students in April 2018.
Overall performance
That, he added, affected the overall performance of the school, hence the decision by the school’s management to disallow this year’s candidates from writing the private examination, to change the trend.
“We told the parents in our last PTA that we have cancelled Nov/Dec and some of them are not happy about it.
I’m receiving countless number of calls and some have even called on me in my office over the matter.
“We are firm in our decision because it borders on the overall interest of the school and I believe the Old Boys here are in support of it,” he stated.
Conference
The conference assembled members and executive of MOBA to assess the operations of the association in the previous year and to set fresh targets and resolutions for the year.
This year’s conference, held at the Ridge Church in Accra, was also characterised by a business fair, where some companies, including financial and health institutions, mounted stands at the forecourt of the church to exhibit their products and services.
Infrastructure
In his report on the current state of the school, Mr Oduro mentioned inadequate infrastructure as one major issue confronting the welfare of the students.
He said that considering increment in the school’s population as a result of the Free Senior High School Policy, some facilities, including the dining hall, required urgent expansion to fully accommodate a total student population of over 2,800.
He said the management of the school had written to appropriate authorities over the matter, for support and commended MOBA for its continuous contribution towards the infrastructural and academic welfare of the school.
He, however, appealed to its members to come to the school’s aid to undertake some urgent projects, including resourcing the school’s infirmary and expanding its assembly hall to contain the current population.
Privatisation
For his part, the Ebusuapanyin of MOBA, Captain Paul Fordjoe, stated that the association would not relent in its efforts to push for the privatisation of the Mfantsipim SHS, stressing that MOBA had put together a sustainable funding plan and a business strategy with which it would use to “convince” its stakeholders, including the Methodist Church for their support towards the agenda.
