The St Augustine's College in Cape Coast in the Central Region, has appealed for stakeholder support to acquire robust and quality infrastructure crucial for the training of students. Mr Henry Arthur-Gyan, the Headmaster of the College, who made the appeal at the school's 94th anniversary and Speech Day, said the institution was old and needed a lot of maintenance and expansion, to deliver quality education. The introduction of the Free Senior High School policy had put heads of schools under immense pressure to admit students, some with boarding facilities that had not seen any major maintenance or new infrastructure in decades. St Augustine's College had not been an exception as records showed a current total students population of 11,249 admitted from 2019 to 2023, all using the same facilities. 'It is difficult to repair 50-year-old structures and so, please, let us all get on board to help this college get new infrastructure.' As we reflect on our journey, we recognise the collective efforts that br ought us to this point. Challenges have strengthened our resolve and with optimism, we look ahead to continuous support as we strive for excellence,' he added. The College's 94th anniversary was held under the theme: 'Pioneering education on the foundation of quality infrastructure for sustainable future.' The highly patronised occasion saw the campus soaked in the school's colours of fine mixture of white and green. The anniversary was sponsored by the 1999-year group of the College (APSU 99) who delivered a raft of projects to support the school. They renovated and modernised an abandoned three-storey 18-unit classroom block with the capacity for more than 900 students. The facility had been fitted with two coding laboratories, a smart classroom, 900 furniture, CCTV cameras, and projectors for every classroom. They had also installed a 35-kilowatt solar energy system at the 18-unit classroom block and an ICT facility in addition to a borehole, to mitigate water shortage, and undertook a tree planting exercise to enhance the environment. Mr Arthur-Gyan thanked all stakeholders for their 'invaluable' support and appealed for more. 'As we remain resolute in our mission to cultivate students with high academic, spiritual, moral and human values, we call on all stakeholders to continue supporting St. Augustine's administration,' he said. The headmaster touted the College's academic feat despite its challenges, indicating that the 2023 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results was a testament of their dedication, as they achieved 98.1 per cent pass rate including 30 A1s. Mr Francis Bullen Gavor, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rock Africa, a technology company, lamenting the infrastructural deficit in various schools, called on authorities to formalise the collaborative efforts by Parents Associations, old students and mission churches and assign them the necessary roles to play in the delivery of quality education. He said over the years student population growth and incr eased access to education had put pressure on existing infrastructure, but successive governments had not been able to keep up with the demand, leaving the responsibility on the shoulders of parents, old students, and other groups to provide such expansion. 'We cannot allow the current structure to prevail as doing so will only compound the issues,' he said. Mr Gavor called for investment in technology and training of all students in Information and Communication Technology, including the creation and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. 'No student should leave the college without a working knowledge of using computers in their work. I know we are on that path, but we need to find a way to accelerate this,' so that they could favourably compete with others globally, he said. Mr Alex Bram, the Chief Executive Officer of Hubtel, an old boy, shared his success story to inspire the students, urging them to pursue their goals with endless perseverance as it was the surest way to succeed. He acknowledge d that the beginning stage of every endeavour was tough, but entreated students not to succumb to the challenges, citing himself and his company as an example. He noted that after several failures and challenges, he and his partners had managed to build their company over the last 19 years to become Ghana's most successful technology company that cuts across the African Continent. Mr Bram urged the students to keep persevering and embrace failure as an important part of the journey, stressing that success would not come overnight. Source: Ghana News Agency
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