Opoku Ware Senior High School

Opoku Ware School, often referred to as OWASS, is a senior high school for boys in the Ashanti region of Ghana. It was established in 1952, as one of the five Catholic schools in Ghana that year. The school was named after Asante King Opoku Ware I. The students are known collectively as Akatakyie, an Asante word meaning "conquering heroes".

It is located in Fankyenebra, near Santasi, along the Kumasi-Obuasi road.

The patron saint of the school is Saint Thomas Aquinas. The motto of the school is "Deus Lux Scientiae", meaning "God is the Light of Knowledge".

Overview

The school is governed by a board, who appoints a headmaster. It contains 10 boys houses, each headed by a housemaster, selected from the more senior members of the teaching staff, who number some 60. Almost all the school's pupils go on to universities, about a two-thirds of them to the three premier universities in Ghana, being: University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and University of Cape Coast.

The current headmaster, Dr. Alexis Frimpong-Nimoh is a member of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Senior Secondary schools (CHASS) in Ghana.

OWASS today is a much larger than its inception. In 1952, the school began with 60 boys. This number has significantly risen to over 1,800 boys now.

History

Opoku Ware School was the first Catholic boys School in the Asante Kingdom. Although it is the Second all boys school in the region.Until its establishment, youth from the Ashanti Kingdom and the Northern part of Ghana who wanted Catholic education had to travel south across the Pra River to attend secondary schools.

This meant that members of the Catholic Church who wished to have their children educated in accordance with Catholic traditions had to send them to St. Augustine's College or Holy Child College, both in Cape Coast.

The original plan to establish a secondary school in the Kingdom at the initiation of the King, called for one school jointly with the Catholic Church, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches. The Catholic Church opted out of it and asked the King's blessing for the establishment of a separate school for the Catholics.

At a meeting held on 31 January 1951, a decision was taken to build a Roman Catholic Mission secondary school. The government was to provide all the funds for the building of the school. The school was meant for 360 students with a possible expansion to the Sixth Form. It was to be developed according to a ten-year development plan, and the final cost was estimated at £250,000. An expatriate construction firm, Fry, Drew and Company, was awarded the contract to build classrooms, dormitories, laboratories, and administration block and staff bungalows.

Opening

OWASS opened its doors on 28 February 1952 to 60 young boys to the school, originally called Yaa Asantewaa College. Two weeks after the school opened, the name was changed to Opoku Ware School following consultations with and instructions from the Manhyia Palace. This was to honour one of the most illustrious Asante Kings, who in May 1744 approached the Roman Catholic Mission at the Elmina Castle to educate Asante youth.

Katakyie Opoku Ware I, ruled Asanteman between 1720 and 1750. A past student of the school is known as Katakyie (conquering hero) the title by which Nana Opoku Ware I was known, principally for the expansionist drive of Asanteman's frontiers, and for which he became famously known.

The late Rev. Fr. P. R. Burgess, An Oxford University graduate, was the first headmaster of the school. He was the son of an Irish draper and a former major in the British Army. He was a Polyglot and spoke Italian and French fluently. He also spoke Aramaic. The boys spent their first night at St. Paul's house, the only dormitory in what was a desolate clearing. Two small rooms next to that house served as their dining hall, their assembly hall and their classroom.

Expansion

By 1955, the school had five dormitories (St Paul, St Matthew, St Mark, St Luke and St John), ten classrooms, three science laboratories, an administration block, dining hall, kitchen, library, and 17 staff bungalows. There were 450 students attending the school.

A Sixth Form was established in 1958, to provide courses in both the arts and sciences. A Cadet Corps was formed in 1960.

Presently, the boys are housed in nine houses. There are over 74 classrooms, six science laboratories, two libraries, a science resource center, computer centre, language laboratory, and French and German languages teaching centres.

There are 36 staff bungalows, a block of eight flats and quarters for junior administrative staff, cooks, and pantry boys. There is also a staff canteen, a chapel, a dining hall, and a sick bay.

Current projects

• Ultra-modern ICT centre for the school

Boys' houses

There are 10 houses named after various Saints in the Catholic faith. The houses are named St. John, St Mathew, St Mark, and St Luke. The rest are St Paul, St Peter, St James, St Andrews, St Philip and St Thomas.

The idea of sustainability was incorporated not only in the architecture of the houses but most buildings in the school. Each of the houses as well as most of the staff bungalow has an underground well which provides water for the boys when there is shortage of water.

House structure

In addition to the housemaster, each house has a House Prefect and an assistant who are chosen from the oldest year. There are house gatherings once a week and usually happens in the morning before classes. The housemaster and boys have an opportunity to make announcements during house meetings; the boys get the opportunity to voice the views and express grievances.

Each house participates in weekly morning mass at the school chapel on rotational basis. Many inter-house competitions occur, mostly in the field of sport. For much of the school's history, first year boys have to act as servants, to older boys. Their duties mostly includes cleaning, and running errands.

Student identification system

One of the most enduring legacies of Rev. Fr. Burgess was the student identification and numbering system, a proud tradition that continues till today. For easier administrative purposes, he decided to assign a letter of the alphabet to each year group, and then combine it with a sequential number to each student who gained admission.

The pioneering group had the letter K. Thus K1 was the very first pioneer student to gain admission, followed by K2 and on till K60 the last student to be admitted that year. The following year, the letter S was assigned, then P in 1954, M in 1955 and so on.

The choice of the letters did not follow the alphabetical order. When the single letters ran out with the Z batch of 1975, the school simply began a double letter assignment, with the AB group in 1976. After the AZ group entered in 1999, the following year saw the BC group. Current Form One students are the BT group who entered in 2014.

A student's number is an integral and unique part of his identity and stay at the school, and cannot be assigned to another person even if the original assignee leaves school after a day in the first term. Students are assigned to their dormitories on the basis of the last digit of their number. Thus when a student's number is mentioned, it is easy to figure out his year group and dormitory. So a student with the number BQ 355 for instance entered in the year 2011 and is in St.Paul house.

Achievements

The school has won the Science and Maths quiz twice and have been runners-up five times.The 1997 including Joseph Amamoo, Osei Aghemang Richard Oteng was so exceptional especially in the riddles round.They made OWASS proud in beating Prempeh College twice in that years competition, in the one-eight quarter finals and the grand finale,the first time two schools from one region met in grand finale. In 2002, Paul Azunre, Aubrey Mwinyogle and Vincent-Michaek K Ampadu brought another national science quiz title to the school. OWASS has been in the finals of this championship 7 times, a record it shares with Presec legon Boys. The school is voted # 2 best school in Ghana, 2nd only to Presec legon School. It placed second in the first and only time the SSSCE results were published in a league form in Ghana. In addition, OWASS has won the National Debate Competition once and placed second in the 2002 competition as well. This makes The School the most successful Secondary school in the National Debate Competition which is administered by the Government of Ghana and culminates as part of the Ghana Independence Day celebrations.

The school has won 9 out of the 13 Superzonals Athletic competition in recent years in the Ashanti region. The school has produced several national athletes and Olympians including Ohene Karikari, Sandy Osei Agyemang, and Christian Nsiah.

Until the 1980s, OWASS as they are affectionately called was the only authorised test center for the administration of TOEFL and SAT exams in Ghana. It attained about 10 8As in the 2012 WASSCE

Headmasters of OWASS

Rev. Father Burges (1952–1961)

In March 1961, Father Burgess was given his marching orders from Ghana, having preposterously been accused of interfering in the nation's politics. In reality, he had refused to admit the son of a government minister who had not made the required grade. His principled stand cost him his job and parted him from his dear school, but his values continue to inspire.

Leo Kalinauckas (1961–1963)

An Englishman of Lithuanian heritage, who ran the school between 1961 and 1963.

Kwame Adu-Amankwah (1963–1969)

In 1963, the school had its first Ghanaian headmaster in the person of the late Mr. Kwame Adu-Amankwah, who was headmaster until 1969, when he left to join the new government of Dr. K. A. Busia as the Eastern Regional Minister, and subsequently Ghana's Ambassador to Mexico. During his time, the school's academic performance improved remarkably, and St. Peter House and the Gambrah Library were both constructed in 1966. He had a reputation as very strict disciplinarian and dedicated Catholic.

Stephen Oduro' (1971–1978)

During his time, OWASS saw another wave of expansion, with a new dining hall, the Soweto classroom block, new staff bungalows and another dormitory, St. Andrew House. A new assembly hall and a new headmaster's bungalow were also commenced.

Peter Owusu-Donko (1978–1987)

He steered the school through the difficult mid-1980s, which saw unprecedented bush fires, drought, fuel shortages and food crisis in the country A strong disciplinarian, he managed to guide the school during these stormy waters with great help from the Catholic Church.

James Dapaah Berko (1987–2003)

As the first alumnus headmaster of the school, Mr. Berko went on to hold the post for a record sixteen years. During his time, the school saw many reforms and academic performance improved remarkably. Other successes chalked included winning the National Brilliant Science and Maths Quiz on two occasions (1997 and 2002) as well as several regional sporting championships. It was during his tenure that the old students initiated the construction of an ultra-modern ICT centre for the school.

Stephen Anokye (2003–2011)

Again, the school continued to grow from strength, winning several academic and sporting laurels. Staff morale was high. During his time, a new house (St. Philip) and new library project were commenced and completed. The PTA also commenced a major classroom block project. A new assembly hall was also commenced under Mr. Anokye's tenure.

F. Matthew Oppong Mensah (2011–2015)

Determined to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessors. A tenth dormitory is currently under construction.

(**Rev. Fr. Habits and Mr. T. Bediakoh served as Acting Headmasters for short periods)

Dr. Alexis Frimpong-Nimoh (2015 - Present)

Notable alumni

• Prof. Kwamena Ahwoi, former NDC Minister of State,
• Okyerema Asante, percussionist,
• Ohene Karikari, former national athlete and Africa's number one sprinter during his time
• Dr. Jacob Kwakye-Maafo, physician, surgeon and CEO of West End Clinic, Kumasi
• Prof Christian Nsiah, Olympic athlete and Business Economics professor at Black Hills State Uni
• Ernest Owusu-Poku former Inspector General of Police, Ghana

References

External links

• School website

Coordinates: 6°39′47″N 1°38′42″W / 6.663°N 1.645°W / 6.663; -1.645