Apam, Feb. 26, GNA - The Senior Prefect of the Apam Secondary School, Master Rowland Okyere, has appealed to the Ghana Education Trust fund (GETFUND) to provide all boarding schools with generators. He said this was important because the power rationing that the nation was coping with had a negative effect on boarding institutions. The present situation where students had to go to bed immediately there was power outage was affecting academic performance, the school prefect stated in a report at the 54th speech and prize giving day of the school at the week end.

The theme for the occasion was "Apam Secondary School Achievements, Challenges and the Way Forward".

Mr. Fredrick Ebo Selby, Deputy Director, Legal Services of the West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC), who was the guest speaker, noted that getting to the top was a difficult task but maintaining the position was more daunting.

He said this was the reason why the achievement of the past should not deceive present students to "live on our past glories". Mr. Sebly an old student of the school appealed to people to show interest in their alma mater and learn to "pay a little back for all that our schools had made us" as a sign of gratitude. He reminded students that, "it is only in the dictionary that success comes before work. In all spheres of life success comes after hard work".

"The three years you are spending in Apam Secondary School will determine how successful you will be in life", he said. He appealed to the government to honour its promises to teachers to enable them give off their best.

Ms. Joyce Aidoo, Gomoa District Chief Executive, advised the students to study hard since admission into tertiary institutions was getting more difficult each year.

She cautioned final year students who took the law into their hands after they had been registered for their examination to stop since those who did that most of the time failed or did not pass their examination well.

Mr. Archibold Kobina Fuah, Headmaster said out of the 595 candidates the school presented for the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination in 2006, 238 passed in eight subjects, 127 in seven, 102 in six, 59 and 36 in five and four subjects respectively, 20 in three and eight in two while another eight passed in one with two failures in all subjects.

The Headmaster mentioned an assembly hall, a bus, staff bungalows, water storage tanks, an art studio and sports equipment as some of the needs of the school and appealed to the government, the district Assembly, donor agencies, the Parent Teacher Association and the Old Students Association for assistance. Mrs. Charlotte Obeng, President of the Old Students Association (ASSOSA), said the association was working hard to expand facilities at the school. She said as a first step it had embarked on a membership drive. Mr. Joe Kingsley Hackman, MP for Gomoa West, said he was upgrading the school's park into a mini sports stadium. He said he had provided 70 bags of cement and 10 trips of sand for the beginning of the project. Mr. Peter Mac Manu, Chairman of the New Patriotic Party and an old student commended the new Headmaster, the PTA and the executive of ASSOSA for working hard to improve facilities in the school.