Re-Examine Computer Placement System: Mfantsipim Head

The Computer School Selection Placement System (CSSPS) does not encourage partnership in educational pursuits so government should take a second look at it, Head of Mfantsipim School, Mr. Koame Mieza Edjah said. He said under the present policy, entry into Mfantsipim for instance is closed to the church, old boys, chiefs, landowners and even members of staff and described the situation as "highly unfortunate". Addressing the 133rd Speech and Prize Day of the School on the theme "Education in Nation Building: Consolidating the Gains of our Founding Fathers", Mr. Edjah stressed that " the earlier the government makes room for these protocol arrangements the better for us all". He said educational policies should be given a national character instead of partisan outlook and expressed concern about what he termed "incessant issuance of unwarranted threats" to heads of institutions saying such threats stifle initiative and discourage sound administrative practices. Mr. Edjah appealed to the government to allow heads of institutions some degree of freedom in solving educational problems peculiar to their respective schools adding:"education in the country requires collaborative efforts from both the government and other stakeholders". He appealed to the government to promptly release subsidies to facilitate effective administration of schools. On the School's academic performance, he said, it scored 92.56% in the West Africa Senior High School Examination and that many of the students had qualified to enroll in the country's universities. He said the increase in students' population was having a toll on the school's limited facilities such as the dinning hall which students had to run shift for its use. According to him, the school lacked adequate classrooms and appealed to the government to quickly complete the abandoned 18 unit classroom block project. Mr. Edjah paid tribute to the old boys of the School for their invaluable assistance to the school and urged them to do more to create the enabling teaching and learning environment for present and future students. Dr. Ato Sekyi-Otu, a Professor at the York University in Toronto, Canada, an old boy with the 59 year group, urged the students to study hard, be disciplined and endeavour to abide by the School's motto "dwen hwe kan", literally meaning 'think ahead'. Mr. Frank Davies, a legal practitioner and also an old boy with the 1979 year group, who was the guest speaker, asked students to eschew laziness, lateness and other social vices and be disciplined to propel them to greater heights. The 1989 year group presented GH�20,000.00 in support of a library project for the school while the 1979 year group also gave a cheque of GH�100,000.00 to support projects.