By Samuel Ayammah
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia says quality education can only be attained with appropriate investment in educational infrastructure. Based on this, the government has embarked on over 3,000 various infrastructure projects across the country, nearly 50% of them already completed. He said in the Upper East region, about 164 educational projects have been undertaken, 57% of them already completed. Dr. Bawumia was speaking at the Navrongo Senior High School, NAVASCO, 60th Anniversary and 4th NABIA Co-Sponsored Speech and Prize-giving Day in Navrongo.
Samuel Ayammah reports that it was Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who established NAVASCO on September 30, 1960 under the Educational Trust Fund, to bridge the development gap between the north and the south occasioned by the colonial administration. For starters there were 66 students and four staff of four, including the first Headmaster, the late MrJ.K Fiergbor. The school is identified by its emblem of a “Horn”, a symbol of bravery and unconquerable zeal to excel. And so, old Navascans have made their presence felt in the different political regimes in the country.
In the current parliament, Parliamentarians including the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu was a NABIA and a Dining Hall Prefect of this school. The list of public personalities who are NABIA include Mr Martin Amidu, Lawyer John Ndebugre, the former Chief of Defence Staff- Air Marshal (rtd) Samson Oje, Major General Emmanuel Kotia, Former Minister for Power, Dr. KwabenaDonkor, Minister for the Interior, MrAmbrose Dery, Director General of GBC, Professor Amin Alhassan and many others.
In academia, Navasco’s products include former vice chancellor of the University for Development Studies, Professor. David Millar among others.
The Boy’s Prefect of NAVASCO, Master Kenderick Danladi, appealed to the government to urgently address the huge infrastructure deficit in the school.
The Headmistress of NAVASCO, Madam Mercy Babachuweh, said despite the numerous challenges confronting the school, it has made some remarkable successes over the years.
On the theme “Sustaining Sixty Years of Quality Education in Navrongo Senior High School-the Role of Stakeholders”, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, said NAVASCO is a great school.
”The meticulous numbering of students who pass through the school via allocation of folio numbers to students alphabetically in year groups is very novel”, he noted.
He said NAVASCO is now a “senior citizen” in the country’s league of Senior high schools, full of wisdom to handle its own affairs and to live true to the “do it yourself” principle.
The Vice President and President Akufo Addo personally donated 100,000 to the school.