The African Science Academy (ASA), an all-girls advanced-level school specialising in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), has celebrated the graduation of its ninth cohort at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER)-University of Ghana.
This year’s ceremony honoured 50 outstanding students from 13 African countries who completed their studies in 2025.
The graduating class included students from Lesotho, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Rwanda, Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Togo, Nigeria, Ghana and other African nations.
Founded in 2016 by the African Gifted Foundation, ASA is a premier boarding school dedicated to nurturing young African women with exceptional potential in STEM by providing rigorous training to prepare them for leadership roles in scientific research and innovation.
Chair of the African Gifted Foundation and Founder of ASA, Dr. Tom Ilube CBE, addressing the graduates urged them to spearhead scientific advancements across the continent as Africa’s future depends on their brilliance and determination to maximise its resources and alleviate poverty.
“You have no idea what you can achieve until you step into this sort of opportunity and unleash your ability – and you can make small changes that will have a ripple-effect across Africa and the world. Be good ambassadors, innovators and create a change in whichever field you find yourself,” he urged.
He reiterated that the Africa Science Academy is committed to developing young girls academically, as well as their confidence and brilliance, to become powerful young women who will shape society.
The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, in her remarks commended the young girls for their display of brilliance and ability to learn complex and difficult things in a male-dominated field.
With Africa estimated to need about two million STEM professionals to achieve the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the British High Commissioner urged them to capitalise on the opportunity offered to innovate and be changemakers in that space.
Headteacher-ASA Gifty Ghansah shared her experience, highlighting milestones in the dream that started nine years ago with just 25 girls; but this year the number has doubled and it’s hoped to double again soon, when it relocates to its new campus which is under construction in Eastern Region.
She mentioned that every cohort comes with its uniqueness; however, the 2025-year group dubbed the ‘Bellaatrix’ is extremely special – especially the students’ level of curiosity and ability to be challenged and stretched beyond what they are taught.
With just about 29 percent of females in the STEM fields globally, the balance within the STEM field in Africa is even bigger regardless of the current interventions; hence, ASA is focused on only young girls.
“And so, we want to focus our attention on showing that we continue empowering young females to balance that kind of male-female ratio within the area of STEM,” she said.
Student Recruitment Process
In terms of student recruitment and admissions, ASA goes through a very rigorous process, in about five stages to reach a final decision on the girls. The process commences in October and finishes in May of the next year.
The institute has volunteers all across Africa and Ghana who assist during the call for applications. The volunteer network, ASA’s social media platforms and school websites, are used to announce the opening.
Stage one calls for volunteers, school visitations, assemblies and so on, while at stage two the application is launched. Stage three deals with shortlisting and inviting those successful in the first round.
At the fourth stage, a very comprehensive entrance examination is conducted in the fields of Maths, Physics and English language, then those who meet the pass-rate threshold are shortlisted for the next stage.
Those selectedones then move to the fifth stage, where they are invited for interviews -an in-person interview at the school or a virtual interview conducted online – and the process continues.
“The process is rigorous. After all these stages I have mentioned, if we then think we want to do home visitation, we follow up just to double-check because we’re looking for high-achieving, low-income background students,” Ms. Ghansah said.
ASA Innovation Hub
In addition to STEM, the school runs extra-curricular activities in robotics and computer programming. The students are tasked to use their knowledge in these fields to develop real-life solutions for society.
The 2025 cohort launched two innovative and transformative programmes. One of the two, branded the ‘Farmer Aid’, was programmed to aid farmers in animal farming by checking on the health of their animals regularly with sensors fixed at entrances to the ranch.
“The system checks which animal is healthy and which is not any time they pass through the programmed gates. So when the gate shuts, you know it’s a trigger alerting that there’s an issue with these animals.”
Strong Alumni Network
The headteacher emphasised that the school has a very structured alumni system which enables management to follow through on where each of their girls is furthering their education and what challenges they face.
The ceremony witnessed some alumni members sharing goodwill messages with girls from their campuses across the world – including campuses like Columbia University, Hong Kong, Ashesi and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) among others.
