Bono Union, UNESCO donate French, English books to St. James Seminary

The Bono Union in France has donated some books to Abesim based St. James Seminary Senior High School in the Bono Region.

The donation, French and English books was a partnership between the union and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

According to the President of the Bono Union in Paris, Mr. Gyabaah Appiah, the presentation by the Union is in recognition of the achievements of St. James Seminary Senior High School over the years.

With a demographic projection by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie projecting that the total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050 worldwide, Mr. Gyabaah indicated that the presentation is to augment the students’ capacity in the French language.

“This donation is a partnership between the Bono Union in Paris and UNESCO and it is geared towards equipping the students of this great school in English and most importantly French as various demographic projections indicate that French will be a global language by 2050 looking at the trajectory”.

Mr. Gyabaah reiterated that the presentation which is the first of its kind since its formation will not be the last as the Union has other plans for St. James Seminary and other less endowed schools in the region.

The Bono Regional Minister, Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene commended the Bono Union and UNESCO for the kind gesture in their quest to improve education and urged them to expand their tentacles to other areas in the region.

The Rector of St. Seminary Senior High School, Rector Rev. Fr. Ebo on his part described the donation as “generous” and thanked the Bono Union for recognising the achievements of the school.

He assured them that the books will be put to good use by both teachers and students as the school does not compromise on quality when it comes to discipline and academic work.

Trumpeting the achievements of the school, Rev. Fr. Ebo disclosed that the school which is General Science bias has through a dint of hard work and discipline over the years become one of the best performing Senior High Schools in Ghana and West Africa.

He averred that the school has an enviable record of being adjudged the best academic school in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WAEC) for school candidates since 2011.

“By dint of perseverance and hard work, St. James Seminary Senior High School has carved an enviable niche for herself as one of the best performing academic schools in the country. The school has been adjudged nationally as the best academic performing school in WASSCE since 2011”.

He however appealed for support from corporate organisations and benevolent groups to support the school in putting up a spacious and well-equipped science laboratory to assist them in maintaining quality teaching and learning.

St James’ Seminary was established in 1978 by the late Bishop of the Sunyani Catholic Diocese, Most Reverend James Kwadwo Owusu. The school which initially trained only seminarians scored higher in WAEC’s O’ Level Examinations until it opened up in the early 90s and was absolved by the government to accept non-seminarians.

It has over the years risen to become the best school in Ghana and even produced the best WASSCE students in Ghana and West Africa on several occasions. The school has won several laurels both in the sciences and arts.
In 2015, the school was awarded at the National Best School’s Awards as the best performing Senior High School in science and mathematics.

Similarly, the school was awarded in 2016 for producing the overall best candidate in general science, and the third overall best candidate in WASSCE.

Also in 2017, the school received the West African Examination Council’s (WAEC) Distinction Award and an award at the 3rd Best Schools Ceremony at Koforidua for being the best performing Senior High School in WASSCE (science).