St, Augustines College Celebrates 88th Speech And Prize Giving Day

St Augustine’s College in Cape Coast marked its 88^th Speech and Prize giving day on 17^th March 2018 on the Quadrangle of the college.

The event which was powered by the 1993 year group of the college was characterized by colourful displays from the college’s cadet, the regimental band of the college, the college’s Philharmonic choir among others.

The anniversary, which was graced by distinguished dignitaries such as Mr Kenneth Ashigbey (CEO Ghana Chamber of Communications), Most Rev. Matthias Kobina Nketsia (Metro Catholic Archbishop of Cape Coast), Hon Kofi Osei-Ameyaw (Director General, National Lottery Authority) and Dr Kweku Nduom (Snr Vice President, Business Development Groupe Nduom), was under the theme “The role of technology in preparing students for global economy”.

In his address, the former Managing Director of Graphic Communications Group Limited, who was the chairman for the occasion, Mr Kenneth Ashibey, said the opportunities technology provides, most especially in education, shouldn’t be submerged with its challenges.

Mr Ashibey commended the statement made by the Minister of Communication, Hon. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful in October 2017 when she said that “her ministry was engaging the Ghana Education Service to revisit the ban of mobile use among second cycle institutions across the country”.

The former General Manager of Joy FM said “mobile technology is divine, the now and the future. Like any tool, it can be used for good and evil. The difference between us and the communities making progress is how they harness the tools for the benefit of their students and communities”. Mr Kenneth Ashibey charged students to start working in teams and look for challenges affecting their environment and providing solutions to them.

On his part, the Director General of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) Hon Kofi Osei-Ameyaw who was the guest speaker for the occasion and an old boy of the college said, as part of the National Lottery’s corporate social responsibility (CSR), the application sent by the headmaster of the college Mr. Connel, for the refurbishment of the college’s stadium spectator stands, has gained the needed consideration and approval. Adding his voice to the theme, Hon Osei-Ameyaw indicated that the need to prepare our youth for the future global economy is critical for Ghana’s future. He said “to succeed in the future global economy, proficiency in the traditional reading, writing and arithmetic is not sufficient, in addition to these traditional skills, it is a requirement to be able to think critically, solve problems, communicate, collaborate, find good information quickly and use technology effectively”.

The college patron, Most Rev. Mattias Kobina Nketsia who is the Metro Catholic Archbishop of Cape Coast said the need to have technology highly embedded in our system is imperative, however, technology without character, technology without ethical formation, technology without moral formation is a very dangerous thing hence technology must be guided and informed by spiritual technology.

In his report, Mr Joseph Connel (Headmaster of the College) expressed his profound gratitude to all stakeholders for their numerous supports. He however indicated that challenges associated with fencing of the college are heightened, as the project which is mainly funded by the parents of students in forms 2 and 3, is inadequate; hence, the need to fall on government subventions has become the only alternative.

In an exclusive interview, Dr Kweku Nduom (Vice President Business and Development Groupe Nduom) said Groupe Nduom seeks to motivate and challenge students to learn more and chase their dreams therefore the need for the Groupe Nduom awards. He said, with the slogan “beyond excellence”, the three awards given were designed to motivate students to go beyond the limits to higher heights.