Prempeh College is an all-boys boarding school in a suburb of Kumasi (the Ashanti regional capital), Ashanti, founded in 1949 by Asantehene Sir Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II. Prempeh College was originally meant to cater to the educational needs of Kumasi Metropolis and Ashanti. It is the first all-boys secondary school in Ashanti. Prempeh College is a reputed Grade A school with other secondary schools including Mfantsipim School, Wesley Girls' High School and Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School. The school is modelled on Eton College in England. It won the National Science and Maths Quiz twice, in 1994 (the first school to win the maiden edition) and 1996 .Prempeh College won the 2015 edition of the National Science and Maths Quiz after beating Adisadel College and University Practice SHS in the final making them 3 time champions of the competition, making it the second school in Ghana to clinch a trophy for keeps. The college also won the National Robotics Inspired Science Education Challenge in 2014 and Is the Only School from Ashanti Region to win the competition The college is the only high school from Ashanti region to have won the National Debate championship in 2004. Prempeh College is the first Secondary institution in Ghana and Africa to win the world Robofest 2016 or World Robotics competition, beating giants from China, Japan and so on, they won they toyota innovation award that year. The school topped matriculation at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 2012, with 296 students from the college admitted, and is currently the best second cycled institution in Kumasi Metropolis and Ashanti and Ghana. [1]
Contents
Overview
Prempeh is the academic home of more than 2,000 young men, of whom approximately 90% are in the boarding school. The college has a parent body (PTA) and Old Boy's Association (AMANFOO). The school was established in February 1949 by the then Gold Coast government in collaboration with the Methodist and Presbyterian missionaries and the Ashanti Royal Kingdom. In 1949, 50 boys from Mfantsipim School and their headmaster, Rev. Sidney N. Pearson commenced the college.
The school is headed by a chairman and board of governors, who appoint the headmaster. It contains nine boys' houses, each headed by a housemaster, selected from the more senior members of the teaching staff, who number some 70. Almost all the school's students have gone on to universities, about a third of them to KNUST, Ghana's premier science university.
As of 2012, the headmaster was E. K. Yeaboah, a member of CHASS.[2] Prempeh has grown over time. In 1949, there were 50 boys. In the late 1990s there were about 800, later increasing to over 1,600.
Uniform
The school uniform includes a dark-green coat (or college blazer), the college cloth, striped college tie and green shirt. All students wear a white shirt for evening preps and white shirt with white trousers for Saturday, with the college tie for Saturday morning inspection and dining. There are some variations in the school dress worn by boys in authority. The college blazer (suit) was in use from the beginning in 1949, was dropped in the 1980s, then revived in 2003. Students wear the college suit for ceremonial purposes, such as speech day and graduation ceremonies.
The academic staff wear black gowns with kente pleats in the front at the beginning of each term and at the speech and at graduation ceremonies. It is affectionately called "Green Shirt".
School magazine[edit]
The magazine of Prempeh College has long been called The Stool. It is a 100-page document which gives annual reports of the school. With a patron, an editorial board and the SRC, they deliver to the student body the all-formidable magazine. What has always been featured, for example, are perceptions about the school outside, short messages from students of the college to other schools, interviews with alumni and many interesting features.
Alliance
The College has an ongoing alliance with Yaa Asantewaa Girls' Senior High School. It is affectionately called AMANADEHYEE, which when translated into English means 'Royal pair'. It has its vibrancy at the various universities in the country, like the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and University of Ghana, Legon.
People
Prempeh College has produced the most doctors in Ghana. According to the Registrar of the University of Ghana, by 1974 Prempeh College had sent more students to medical school in Ghana than any other school in Ghana.
Among these are Dr. Akosah, the former president of Ghana Medical Association and director-general of the Ghana Health Service; Dr. Asamoa-Baah, WHO assistant director general in charge of communicable diseases who has global responsibilities in the health delivery system throughout the world; Dr. Asafo-Adjei, former CEO of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital; Dr. K. O. Adade, chief medical officer of Greater Accra; Dr. Emmanuel Tuffuor, president of GhanaCare who was featured in the New York Times and whose work has been endorsed and cited by the World Bank/IMF as "one of the greatest contributions of the advancement of health in the developing world;" Dr. Joseph William deGraft Johnson Riverson, executive director of Donor Relations & Coordinator of Trachoma Program, World Vision US, who has lived a life of devotion to humanitarian causes; Prof. E. Tsiri Agbenyega, dean of the School of Medical Sciences of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; Dr. Jacob Jordan Lamptey, psychiatrist who operates the Valley View Clinic (est. 1987) – the only general practice in Ghana with special interest in psychiatry and related problems in a country where psychiatric practice and psychiatrists are rare; and Dr. Kweku Ghartey, retinal surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital, who was ranked one of "America's 100 Best Doctors" by U.S. News & World Report.
Other Prempeh graduates include: Dr Kwabena Dufuor, former governor of Bank of Ghana; J. A. Kufuor, President of Ghana; Yeboah-Amoah, CEO of The Ghana Stock Exchange; Prof. S. K. Adjepong, former vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Coast and principal of the Methodist University College; Martin Sannah Kwakwa, journalist and editor of the Australian Associated Press; Jim Kusi, the engineer who reconstructed the New York City subway system; Appiah Kusi Adomako (Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA); Kofi Bonner, vice-president and chief administrative officer of the Cleveland Browns football franchise; Derek Appiah, British Telecom Project Manager responsible for launching BT broadband in the UK; Dr Richard Amoako Baah, novelist and inventor of the fuel filter-dryer, for which he holds a United States patent; Rev. Dr Setri Nyomi, first non-European General Secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches(WARC); Dr Francis Achampong, chancellor at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, lawyer and author of a textbook on workplace sexual-harassment law; Professor Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, Vice-Chancellor, University of Ghana; John Sarpong, Chairman and CEO of Africast Global Media; Rev Dr. Robert Aboagye-Mensah, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Ghana; Nana Susubiribi Krobea Asante, president of the Ghana Academy of Arts & Sciences; Prof. Stephen Adei, President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana (CIMG) and Director-General of GIMPA (Ghana Institute of Management and Professional Association); Nana Ampomah Dadey, Unicorn Ghana, Kwaku Sintim-Misa: the stage dramatist; Edward Boateng, CNN/Turner International's regional director for Europe; Kwabena Sarpong-Anane, former Deputy Director - General of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation; Kwaku Anane Sarpong, Pharmacist and Researcher at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Netherlands; Dr. K. S. Amankwah Physician, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Mackenzie Health, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.
Notable alumni
- John Agyekum Kufuor, former president of the Republic of Ghana
- Owusu-Ansah Koffi
- Dr. Kwabena Dufuor
- Dr. William Amankwa Danquah
- Fritz Baffour, television producer and media consultant is the managing director of Tropical Visionstorm Limited
- Prof. Ameyaw Asabere Vice Chancellor,University of Education Winneba.
- Dr. Ato Essuman, Former Council of State for Central Region
- Kow Essuman, one of Ghana's youngest lawyers who is admitted to practise law in England and Wales, New York and Ghana
Headmasters
- Reverend Sidney Pearson (1949–1952)
- Reverend Butler (1952–1954)
- T. A. Osae
- M. K. Atiemo (1977–1984)
- Reuben T Sackey (1985–1995)
- Twumasi Amponsah (1996–1998) Acting headmaster
- Francis Y Asamoah (1998) Acting headmaster
- Eben Afoakwa Sekyere (1998–2001)
- Owusu Achiaw (2002–2008)
- E. K. Yeaboah (2008–2015)
