UER: Sandema Senior High School Celebrates 30th Anniversary and calls for Support

BY: Raymond Wegwi

The Sandema Senior High School in Bulsa North Municipality in the Upper East Region, celebrated their 30 years anniversary at the forecourt of the school with the theme: “Celebrating 30 years of Knowledge, Integrity, and Patriotism: Our Achievements and Our Future”.  Mrs Regina Teni Musah Mumuni, the school’s Board Chairperson, who welcomed the gathering, paid a glowing tribute to the founders, for their pioneering roles played from 1952 ,that has seen the school transitioned from boys middle school to mixed boarding, experimental JSS,  and now Senior High school since 1994, stating that, their dedication, hard work and commitment, have made Sandema SHS a beacon of hope and a symbol of quality education in the region and encourages the current leaders and students of the school, to embrace the legacy of excellence and continue to strive for greatness, and called the authorities,  especially the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to attend to the infrastructure needs of the school .

The school’s Senior prefect, master Abugri Benedict, said the school has produced a lot of prominent people who are doing well in the country and diaspora, including sporting activities making the school always flooded every year with students, seeking for admissions. He added that, there’s discipline in the school which is prerequisites for good performance and commended the head and staff. However he was not enthused with the school lack of fence wall, Assembly Hall , spacious dining hall, science and computer labs, school Bus, library and accomodation, and appealed to the authorities to come to their aid.

The Headmaster of Sandema Senior High School, Mr Robert Balemma Yeli-Oni, who was very grateful to his predecessors, reported that ,he took over 2018, and continue to build on the good legacy in all disciplines . According to him the school which started in 1994 with one hundred and three (103), comprised of forty-six (46) boys and fifty-seven (47) girls with a staff population of four (4) and two programmes, currently has a total students enrolment of two thousand, two hundred and eight -eight (2,288) and the staff strength for both teaching and non-teaching stands at 197,  running six programmes. Touching on the theme: “Celebrating 30 years of Knowledge, Integrity and Patriotism: Our Achievements and Our Future,” He said the settled on it after  thoroughly reflecting on the current State of the country and also what is happening in the world today in relation to education , which calls for re-examination of the kind of knowledge they passes on to the students through educational system. Mr Robert Balemma Yeli-Oni underscored the importance of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) going on in the world which focuses on ICT, automation, skills like problem solving, critical thinking, AI etc, that there’s going to be a dramatic change in the way we live, work and relate to one another. He reported that, the school academic performance with reference to WASSCE results has grown steadily over the years and from 2021-2023 shows improvements in both number of students who obtained A1-E8 passes and the number of students who obtained A1-C6 in the 4 core subjects and that gives average score of the school 80% in all core subjects, 673 students passed in 6 or more subjects ,454 achieved grades that qualify them for entry to any tertiary institution in the country and the overall percentage pass for the school was 92.7%, the highest in the history of the school in 2023. In terms of achievements, the school has seen improved infrastructure such as 9 classroom, a boys dormitory, participating in all sporting and cultural activities, effective collaboration with other stakeholders like government, CAMFED, SEIP Philanthropists, PTA, the school community, old students and the board of governors for the smooth management of the school. However with all  these achievements, the school is in dire need of fence wall, school bus and pick up, Assembly Hall , inner roads and accomodation for the Headmaster, which is not in dout that when provided, will improve the teaching and learning in the school and called on all stakeholders, especially government to rescue the school.

The Sandema Senior High School old students Association, which started in 2019, which is now well organized across the country through the good leadership of the current executives, has been very supportive of the school’s infrastructural needs, including logistics for sports and culture and the NMSQ competition. According to the president, Mr Godwin Aloriweh, they will continue to lend their unflinching support to the school and expressed his gratitude to the members, for their contribution. He took the opportunity to admonished the students to avoid tribal conflict on the compus and other forms of indiscipline activities especially this election year and concentrate on their academic work to come out successfully. The paramount chief of Builsa traditional area, Nab Azagsuk Azantilow11, recognized the developments provided by gov’t including the military detachment and commended the management of the school for being resilient despite the challenges and promised to continue to support them.

The MP for Builsa North, Hon. James Agalga, emphasized that as their MP, he is aware of their challenges and even helped to build a girls’ dormitory block and appealed to government to support them. He said the free SHS has come with a lot of problems especially infrastructure deficit, poor feeding and as alternative government in waiting, when National Democratic Congress, NDC wins power, they will not cancel the policy, but review it for total improvement.

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Hon. Mustapha Ussif, a guest speaker, re-echoed the values such as knowledge, Integrity and Patriotism as the foundation of strong character and responsible citizenship, which Sandema Senior High School has instilled in countless students over the years. He noted that, the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo places education on the core of the nation’s national development agenda through the free SHS policy, and they have made quality secondary education accessible to every young Ghanaian, ensuring that, no child is left behind due to financial bearers and this policy has been transformative, empowering thousands of young people to realize their potentials and contribute to national progress. According to him government has successfully completed the nation wide supply, training and subsequently distribution of computers and laptops to qualify teachers from kindergarten through to SHS including those in study leave and non-teaching staff under Ghana Education Service government policy of one teacher one laptop initiative in partnership with K.

A technologies, aim to facilitate lessons planning, and teaching and learning outcomes.

Additionally there’s ongoing initiative to distribute computers, laptops and tablets to SHS students across the country and this initiative designed to equip over 1.3 millions students with digital tools to enhance learning and prepare them for the technology driven world and assured the paramount chief and the school of delivering their challenges to the president.