Pay Attention to Deprived School (Page 11, July 19,2010)

THE Member of Parliament for Buem, Mr Henry Ford Kamel has advised the Bueman Senior Secondary School to use its 50th anniversary celebration to reflect on its past achievements and strategies for the future.
He said the occasion should serve as a platform for stock taking since the school had contributed immensely to the human resource of the country and to national development.
Speaking at the launch of the 50th anniversary of the Bueman Senior High School in Accra, Mr Kamel, who is also the Deputy Minister of Lands, Forestry and Natural resources, stated that despite major challenges faced by the school such as inadequate facilities, lack of water and inadequate power supply, the school had grown to be one of the best second cycle institutions in the country.
He, therefore, advised the school authorities to initiate specific plans to enhance the development of the school in order to receive the necessary assistance from government.
Mr Kamel also called on the authorities of the school to leave a legacy for the future generation.
A retired banker, Dr Kwaku Addeah, called on the government to pay special attention to deprived schools in the country.
He said the challenges confronting deprived schools tend to have negative effects on students during and after school, stressing that "For a nation to progress, it must give equal attention to all talented persons hailing from every corner of its country".
Speaking on the theme: "50 Years of Academic Excellence: Successes and Challenges in a Deprived Environment", Mr Addeah explained that a school could be said to be deprived if it lacked reasonable quantity and quality of human and material resources.
He said it was "It is better to develop a nation on the basis of the synergy of all its talents than on that of a few".
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tetteh Enyo, commended the school for contributing its quota to the training of the country's manpower.
He said government was not unaware of the challenges faced by deprived schools in their quest to provide quality education to students.
Giving the history of the school, Mr Francis E. Ametefe, the Headmaster of the school, said after its establishment in 1960 as a private institution, the school was absorbed into the public system in 1964.
He said since it establishment, the school had grown over the years with two classroom blocks, with a larger population of 1,038 with 788 students as boarders and 250 as day students.
He paid tribute to the founding fathers of the school and thanked all who had contributed to the success of the school.