Draft:History of the Ejisu Roam Catholic School, Ejisu-Ashanti, Ghana

A History of the St. Anthony Roman Catholic School, Ejisu, Ashanti, Ghana

With 27 pupils at its founding in the 1930’s, the Ejisu St. Anthony Roman Catholic School in the Ashanti Region of Ghana currently boasts of a population close to 1000. The school which started as a primary unit only, and now has a pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, Primary and Junior High/Secondary School, has educated a wide variety of pupils who have made, and continue to make a difference in Ghana and around the world. Dr. Kofi Mensah and his wife Mrs. Akua Mensah, founding members of the Antwi Mensah and Family Foundation (AMAFF), are alumni of the school. The current administration of the Ejisu Roman Catholic School includes: · Mr. Peter Adom Agyemang – Headmaster, Junior High School · Ms. Bernadette N. Votere Headmistress - Primary School · Ms. Christina Owusu - Nominal Head of the Nursery School (Pre-K and Kindergarten) · Rev. Fr. Stephen Asante Bakor – St. Anthony Parish Priest and Local Manager of Ejisu R/C School

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The now 90-years old St. Anthony Roman Catholic School in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, originated as a primary school at Adadientem, a village in the Ejisu Municipality around 1930. When the Parish Priest in charge of the Diocese of Konongo, Ashanti Region, found that there was no commitment to the school from the church elders, he moved the school to Ejisu, and a new six-year primary school was born. Nana Kwabena Owusu, the then paramount chief of the Ejisu Traditional area laid the foundation stone in 1933.

The school did not initially have a middle school, so after finishing the six years of primary education the pupils went either  to the St. Peter’s Middle School Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region, or a similar school in Konongo to complete their 10-year  elementary education. The St. Anthony Roman Catholic School attained middle school status in 1941.  In 1945, the first batch of 27 pupils took the Middle School Leaving Certificate Examination at the Effiduase Examination Centre, approximately 15 miles from Ejisu.

The early administration and faculty of the school included Mr. Williams, Mr. Twumasi, Mr. Thomas Kwaku (T.K.) Mensah, Mr. Arthur and Mr. Robert Alexander Osei.

The school has continued to develop tremendously and kept pace with all the different stages of education in Ghana. In 1986 the middle school was converted to Junior High School (JHS) and ran concurrently with the middle school until the middle school was phased out in the 1989-90 academic year. It added a nursery school --pre-K and Kindergarten- in 1997. Today, the school consists of Pre-K through Junior High/Secondary School (9th Grade)

There have been several structural developments at the school; for example,

Through a grant from a philanthropic organization in Spain, Minos Unidas, a two-level building was added to the school in 2004. The rooms are currently being used by the primary and junior high schools.

In 2008, Boston College (BC) in Boston, MA, USA, represented by Prof. Dr. Kwasi Sarkodie-Mensah and Mr. Timothy Anderson, a BC alumnus, and founder of World Computer Exchange, provided a set of computers for the first computer lab in the school. There are no longer functional computers in the lab, except for the one work station provided by the Ghana Education Service for records and data keeping.

In 2017, Mr. Ole Knutzen, a member of the Rotary Club of Copenhagen, Denmark, sent money through the Rotary Club of Kumasi East for the construction of a mechanized well to provide potable water for the school and the surrounding neighborhood. Mr. Kwame Kyeremateng Mensah-Aborampah was president of the Rotary Club of Kumasi East at that time.

The population of the school has grown from 27 to close to 1000 pupils, over the past 90 years.

Ejisu R/C has educated a plethora of people who are now using their gifts and talents in Ghana and around the world: engineers, teachers, priests, nurses, medical doctors, business men and women, hotel proprietors, lawyers, masons, electricians, plumbers, university professors, principal secretaries, carpenters, market sellers, architects, accountants, etc.

In recent years, access to adequate washroom facilities has been a challenge for the members of the school community. Pupils currently depend on nearby paid facilities and neighborhood houses to use bathroom facilities, a process that takes valuable time away from their schoolwork on any typical school day.

The current Antwi Mensah and Family Foundation (AMAFF) project will make a tremendously unique difference. Members of the school community will for the first time in many years have a local facility where they can use state of the art toilet facilities during the time they are in school and concentrate on their studies and social development instead of scouting around for such facilities as has been the case for many years now.

The current administration of the Ejisu Roman Catholic School includes: · Mr. Peter Adom Agyemang – Junior High School Headmaster · Ms. Bernadette N. Votere – Primary School Headmistress · Ms. Christina Owusu - Head of the Nursery School (Pre-K and Kindergarten) · Rev. Fr. Stephen Asante Bakor – St. Anthony Parish Priest and Local Manager of Ejisu R/C School

Here is a brief chronology of teachers, administrators, and key events in designated time periods.

Chronology

1930-1950 1930: Primary School is established 1941: Middle School is added (Standard 4 to Standard 7) 1949: The school is separated into primary and middle units

Mr. Williams and Mr. Twumasi are the administrative heads. 

1951-1976 1951-1959: Mr. Arthur is Primary School Headteacher 1957-1972: Mr. Thomas. Kwaku Mensah (TK) is Middle School Headteacher 1960-1976: Mr. Robert Alexander Osei is Primary School Headteacher

1977-1990 1972-1981: Mr. Oware is Middle School Headteacher 1981-1983: Mr. James E. Akomeyeh is Middle School Headteacher 1983/84: Mr. Andrew Kyeremateng is Middle School Headteacher 1984/85-1986/87: Mr. Anthony Oppong Middle School Headteachder September 1987: Junior High School (JHS) ran concurrently with the Middle school System September 1987-93: Mr. Joseph Kojo Smith is Headmaster of the entire school -- Primary to Middle/Junior Secondary school End of 1989/90 academic year: First batch of pupils from the JHS/JSS system complete their education and headed to the Senior Secondary School (SSS) 1989-1990: Middle School is completely phased out at the end of the academic year.

1990-2011 1990-1992/1993: Joseph Kojo Smith is Headteacher. 1993/94-1995/96: Mr. Moses Agyenim Boateng is Headteacher 1996/97- 2011/2012: Madam Theresa Serwaa Boateng is Headmistress 2001/2002: Primary School is decoupled from the Junior Secondary School 2001-2009: Mr. Matthew Adorf Boakye is Junior Secondary School (JSS) Headmaster 2009/2010-2013/2014: Mr. Smith Mbekemgbe is Head of Junior Secondary School

2012-2023 2012/2013- 2015/2016: Madam Patricia Frimpong is Primary School Headmistress 2014- Now: Mr. Peter Adom Agyeman is Junior High School Headmaster 2011-2016: Mrs. Philomena Adu is Head of Kindergarten 2016/2017 - March 2019: Madam Felicia Buaben is Primary School Headmistress March 2019-September 2019: Madam Agnes Boateng is Primary School Acting Headmistress September 2019-Now: Bernadette Votere is Primary School Headmistress Miss Christina Owusu -Nominal Head of the Nursery School (Pre-K and Kindergarten) Rev. Fr. Stephen Asante Bakor is St. Anthony Parish Priest and Local Manager of Ejisu R/C School