By Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
The Lawra Secondary School Old Students Association (LASSOSA) has organised a Career Guidance and Counseling Session for Lawra Senior High School (LAWSEC) in the Upper West Region.
The event which is the first of its kind in the school targeted six hundred and ninety-eight (698) final-year students. In this special piece, GBC’s Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo reports that the students had a rare opportunity to interact with experts from various fields, including academia, marketing, aviation, security, IT, health, legal as well as banking and finance.
An old student on the Governing Board of LAWSEC, Thomas Wienaa Tingan who set the ball rolling at the event, said the session was aimed at enlightening the final-year students to be on the right track towards their career objectives but not an occasion for the old students to boast about their achievements.
Mr. Tingan: “We are not coming to show off, to tell you where we are, but we are coming to tell you, how we worked through it to where we are, so that you can emulate our examples and even do better”.
The President of LASSOSA, Stanley Eledi reminded students that they can realise their dreams, once they apply themselves dutifully and related to them how he came to LAWSEC in 1975: “From my village, nobody knew Lawra, I was the first person to actually, deliberately select Lawra Secondary as my choice for ‘Common Entrance’.
I only heard that somebody who didn’t come from my village and passed through my village school came to this school [LAWSEC], that was Baissana Tinyogtaa, I didn’t meet him. It was a story we heard.” “In my time, there were only two schools known, Wa Secondary School and Nandom Secondary School. but I chose Lawra Secondary, nobody knew the place, I came to Lawra Secondary, I enjoyed myself, I passed”, Mr. Eledi stated.
The Vice Chancellor of Dr Hilla Limann Technical University, Prof. Elias N.K. Sowley, who dwelt on “After Secondary School, What Next?” zeroed down on “What to do whlle waiting to enter a tertiary institution” and advised the students to among others, acquire skills, develop their talents, volunteer for organisations as well as adding value to their communities in order to have a competitive edge.
Prof. Sowley stressed the necessity for young people to take advantage of technical universities for competence based training and put the spotlight in his university. “Now let me zero down on my university, you heard that I am the Vice Chancellor of Dr Hilla Limann Technical University, which is in Wa. You can pursue Higher National Diploma program in various areas,you can pursue degree programs, we are working on a masters degree.
The Vice Chancellor continued that: “The University offers free admission forms. Go to www.dhltu.edu.gh and you will see everything about the university, what program to pursue and how you can apply.” A retired Director of Bank of Ghana, Franklin Nicodemus Belnye who dilated on ” Preparing for Placement in the Financial Sector”, said some careers are disappearing but mentioned some skill sets required in the sector.
He named economics, finance, accounting, banking, law, information technology, mathematics, actuarial science, human resource management, marketing, project management, saying of the field of study can get you a foothold in the banking sector.
Aviation Consultant and former Vice President of International Air Transport Association (IATA), Raphael Kuuchi took the students through the “Professions in the Aviation Industry” and said Africa has a huge potential in the aviation sector which is the fastest growing in the world.
Mr Kuuchi added that in Africa currently, we have an estimated 12% of the African population travelling by air. “So imagine 12% of 1.3 billion people who are able to travel by air”, he observed.
The Headmaster of LAWSEC, Naa Alhaji Seidu Tungbani expressed gratitude to LASSOSA for organising the event and said it is in line with the vision [and mission] of LAWSEC to create a conducive environment that holistically nurtures young minds to positively take charge of their lives and contribute productively to the development of the nation and country.
Other dignitaries at the event included a retired Director of Prisons, Madam Margaret Dangah, a Public Health Pharmacist, Lazarus Dery, a retired Nurse, Madam Faustina Balaara, the MP for Lawra, Bede Ziedeng, a Priest, Rev. Fr. Marciano Ziem, a Tutor, Madam Joan Suuriweh, Philip Neri-Mornah also a tutor and IT professionals, Stephen Naab and Godwin Zasib.
A member of the Governing Board of LAWSEC, Charles K. Nuoriyee presented a copy of the manual for career guidance and counseling to the Headmaster of the School, Naa Alhaji Tungbani.
Some of the students GBC spoke to were extremely excited about the engagement and indicated that it was refreshing and insightful.
