Dignitaries on the high table: from left Ibrahim Alabira, Global President of Old NAVASCAN Union, Prof Pelig-Ba, board chair; Stephen Yakubu, UE/R Minister; Ibrahim-TankoAmidu, Accra branch President of Old NAVASCAN Union; Annie Kye-eebo, caretaker UE/R Director of education and Headmistress of NAVASCAN, mercy Babachuwey
The Navrongo Senior High School (NAVASCO) in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality of the Upper Region on Saturday held its Speech and Prize Giving Day with a call for discipline as a necessary tool for positive school climate conducive to sound academic performance.
“Declining levels of discipline in our schools and within the wider society have been highlighted as key contributory factors to poor learning and performance outcomes,” Ibrahim TankoAmidu, an old student(Nabia) and the Executive Director of STAR-Ghana Foundation said in a keynote address.
Sponsored by the 1981 year group in conjunction with the school authorities, the speech and prize giving day was held on the theme “Improving academic performance in NAVASCO, the role of stakeholders”.
The day was preceded by the annual general meeting of the old NAVASCAN union from across the country and beyond to discuss development projects for the school.
A number of staff and students were awarded prizes worth GH¢70,000 for academic performance.
Mr Amidu who is the President of the Accra branch of Old NAVASCAN Union noted that where there was good discipline, there was improved academic performance, stressing that poor performance, poor social skills and weak emotional intelligence had combined to make products of “our school unable to compete in the outside world, unable to compete at the tertiary levels and unable to assume and exercise leadership at all levels of the society.”
“It is absolutely possible for Navasco to regain its once enviable place among the highest performing schools in the country. It was done before and can be done again. All that is required is discipline.
Mr Amidu proposed “a holistic approach to tackling the causes of indiscipline in schools, integrating civics, parental responsibility, improved and effective school management and for students nurturing self-confidence and self-discipline.”
The school board chair, Professor Kenneth B. Pelig-Ba said “indiscipline and academic excellence are two parallel lines, that will never meet” and admonished the students to show appreciation to Nabia by studying hard “to make all of us proud.”
The Headmistress, Mercy Babachuwey, in her report said out of 625 students who sat for the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations in 2021, 401 (representing 64%) had gained admission to tertiary institutions, and commended the old students for their support to their alma mater.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu, is also an old student urged all stakeholders to work in partnership to deliver quality education to improve academic outcomes, while advising the students to take their studies seriously and eschew negative tendencies.
The Global President of the Old NAVASCAN Union, Ibrahim Alabira said the old students had always taken up the responsibility to support the improvement of facilities in the school through infrastructural projects, academic affairs, health and general wellbeing of students, and more, “which we do through lobbying, voluntary donations or levies.”
The Senior Prefect, Tiisu Sheriff, said as “student leadership, we co-operate with school authority for appropriate sanctioning of students who go against school rules and regulations to serve as a deterrent to others.”
The Upper East Regional Caretaker Director of Education, Annie Estella Kye- eebo, who chaired the ceremony, challenged the students to stick to their books to enable them to make good grades for themselves adding “you cannot afford to disappoint your teachers, parents, NABIA and society at large.”
By Salifu Abdul-Rahaman
