Tarkwa Senior High School (TARSCO) in the Western Region, on Saturday climaxed its 60th anniversary celebrations on the theme ‘Achieving academic excellence through discipline for national development’.
Highlights of the activities included non -denominational church service, general cleaning at Tarkwa township and Efuanta market, friendly soccer matches, inter school games between TARSCO and Fiaseman SHS (FIASEC), homecoming, mentoring and career guidance, health screening, fundraising dance dinner and a cadet parade, and anniversary durbar.
The event, which showcased exploits of TARSCO in the academic arena, educational development, also celebrated pioneers and reflected on the school’s future.
The Coordinator at the Technical Division of Ministry of Finance, Ms Eva Mends, who chaired the celebration, thanked God for the 60th anniversary of TARSCO and prayed that her alma mater would continue to groom and mentor future leaders.
TARSCO, she recalled, provided the discipline that injected a sense of can-do spirit in students and that it was unsurprising that old students occupied enviable positions in the Ghana’s political and academic space.
Ms Mends continued that, the celebration was a period of stocktaking and generational planning to invest in the future generation of TARSCO and prepare them to be relevant in the fast changing and multi- tasking world of work.
She said “Our school has made remarkable achievements driven by the zeal, direction and the can-do spirit of the founding fathers. Sixty years after the establishment of TARSCO, as part of the transformation narrative to be relevant to the fast changing times
“We must create generational thinkers, who would fashion the vision of our great school based on the philosophy of Alvin Eugene Toffler that the illiterates of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write.
Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who was represented by Deputy Minister of Education, Mrs Gifty Twum Ampofo, noted that nations throughout the world had realised that education was the most important tool for rapid socio economic development.
In view of this, he said the government fashioned out the Free SHS programme including TVET at second cycle education.
Dr Bawumia said, although the policy programme had been very expensive, taking chunk of the budget, free SHS had increased enrollments in our schools, and provided a lot of opportunities for the youth to enhance themselves, adding “Quality has also improved.
Headmaster of TARSCO, George Oduro, mentioned that the journey of the school was no mean achievement and a significant milestone.
He said the pioneers encountered countless problems, as students slept on the floor because there were no beds.
Girls Prefect, Emmanuella Aidoo, stated “every student is capable of excelling in every subject, which is a measurement of their growth and progress, and environment that helps each other develop intellectual potentials.”
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, TARKWA
