GHANA HIGH SCHOOL EXCELLENCE AWARDS; A COURTESY CALL TO PROMOTE SECONDARY EDUCATION IN GHANA

“Education is the key, but the padlock is spoilt”, is one of the funny jokes that have gone viral on social media – whatsapp. This adds to the voice that, the importance of education cannot be overemphasized. Just as Abraham Lincoln said “the philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next”, this shows that education is one of the cannons used in assessing the performance of a government in nation building. Secondary education in Ghana has seen the light of the day through different political reforms and various educational programmes such as the National Science and Maths Quiz and the Excellent, Distinction and Merit Awards instituted under the WAEC Endowment Fund.

There is a saying “all work and no play…” and as such, many high school entertainment events have cropped up paying little attention to challenging, competitive, progressive and quality high school educational in the country. Most of these programmes except a few, lack good content and do little to add to national development. Others rather imbibe immoral behaviours in the youth looking at the nature of most of the events as a result of misplaced content priority. Also, apart from the WAEC Excellent, Distinction and Merit Awards which is strictly based on students' academic performance in the West Africa Senior High School Certificate Examination (WASHSCE), all other known awards programme for high schools are entertainment oriented and may have categories such as; entertainment school of the year, mix tape of the year, freak of the year, hip hop group of the year, fashionable and famous student of the year, just to mention a few.

However, there is no educational awards programme in Ghana that seeks to; award and acknowledge schools and students' achievements; create competitive edge to challenge schools and students to move from their comfort zones of depending on past glories; implement sustainable projects for less privileged schools and societies; inspire and motivate schools, students and the general public in contributing their quota in promoting education in Ghana.

It is in this light that the general public is being informed to create the awareness of the
GHANA HIGH SCHOOL EXCELLENCE AWARDS event coming soon and to place a courtesy call on the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service and all stakeholders in education for their support and aid.

Ghana High School Excellence Awards (GHSEA) is the first ever most prestigious, inspiring and competitive educational awards programme that seeks to add to national development through the implementation of sustainable projects for schools in Ghana.

GHSEA is a brand of GIGS Ghana (Globally Inspired Generations), a registered organization that is keen about inspiring the youth for higher achievements and developing young talents for the corporate world. GIGS is an organisation with multifaceted activities geared towards building and developing young top talents through its Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Investment, Training and Educational (ELITE) programmes. GHSEA is concept that will be organised every year with a focus of addressing pertinent challenges facing education in Ghana.

AWARDS OBJECTIVES

i. To acknowledge and award the achievements of schools, students and individuals who are contributing significantly to education in Ghana.
ii. To implement progressive and sustainable projects in less privileged senior and junior high schools and societies.
iii. To inspire the general public and distinguished individuals in society to support education in Ghana and to increase the competitive edge of schools for greater achievements.

AWARD CATEGORIES

a. School Category

• Best Senior High School of the year
• Best Private Senior High School of the year
• Best Vocational and Technical School of the year
• Best Senior High School in Sports
• Most Disciplined School of the year

b. Student Category

• Best Student of the year
• Student Personality of the year
• Best Student in Sports
• Most Outstanding SRC
• Best Student Group of the year (clubs and societies, denominations, singing groups, etc.)

c. Social Category

• Educational Personality of the year
• Old Students' Association of the year
• Educational Support Company of the year
• Best Educational Project of the year
• Discovery of the year

For further information, support and sponsorship; contact: 0247842555 / 0501363970 / 0501380390
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
Website: www.ghanahighschoolexcellenceawards.wordpress.com
Or www.facebook.com/ghanahighschoolexcellenceawards

By: Kwabena Agyarko Gyekye
(GIGS Ghana – President)