President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo is expected to grace the 70th and 22nd speech and prize-giving day of Apam Senior High School (Great APASS).
The anniversary event, slated for May 27, 2023, will be celebrated on the theme ‘70 years of quality education: Sustaining our gains in the new technological world’.
The school was established in 1953 at Apaa Paado, a suburb of Apam in the Gomoa West Municipality of the Central Region – with a humble beginning under a cocoa shed and oak tree.
It started under the management of Rev. J. W. DeGraft-Johnson as a day-school and with C. S. Arthur Hesse as the only teacher.
However, over the years, the school has grown in population and churned out great men and women who wield several high positions in the country.
Notable among them is Chief Justice Kwesi Anning Yeboah; Justice Nene Amegatcher; and former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye.
As the school turns 70 years this year, management, staff and old students have put together a number of activities to mark the milestone that will see several dignitaries in attendance.
Aside from the president, other dignitaries expected to attend include Chief Justice Kwesi Anning Yeboah, who is an old student; Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum; Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako Attah; and Central Regional Minister, Justina Marigold Assan.
Others are: Paramount Chief of Gomoa Akyempim Traditional Area, Obirifo Ahunako Ankobea II; Paramount Chief of Gomoa Ajumako Traditional Area, Obrempon Nyanful Krampah XI; Dr. Ishmael Yamson of Yamson and Associates from the 1976 group will also be in attendance.
Guest-speaker for the anniversary will be Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Prof. Peter Kojo Tsiwah Grant.
Board Chairman of the school, Nana Obokoma Atta IX, will also grace the event.
As part of activities to mark the 70th anniversary which starts on 22nd May, old students are expected to be on the school premises for the Homecoming and Mentorship Day on Thursday 25th of May.
On Friday 26th of May, old students, pupils, teachers and non-teaching staff will go on an awareness-float from the school premises to Apam Township and to Ankamu.
The Apam Secondary School Old Students Association (ASSOSA) will hand over projects they have embarked on in the school. There will be a bonfire for all present on campus in the evening, after the float.
The 70th anniversary will be climaxed with a durbar of chiefs, pupils, the ASSOSA, teaching and non-teaching staff – including family and friends of Great APASS, on the school’s durbar ground where all the dignitaries mentioned above willbe in attendance.
Awards will be given to deserving students who have set themselves apart in both academic work and extracurricular activities.
There will also be fundraising to help with the school’s infrastructure development and other pertinent needs. In the evening after the grand durbar, there will be barbecue night and street carnival – to raise funds as well as provide entertainment for both students and the ASSOSA.
Apam Senior High School exists to provide a conducive atmosphere for character-training, excellence in academics and sports – in a bid to produce knowledgeable, useful and all-round citizens imbued with good character and skills which epitomise the school’s motto of “Obra Pa Gya Owura Kwan” (Character and Efficiency).
