ACCRA ACADEMY ALUMNI
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ACCRA ACADEMY ALUMNI |
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THE FOUNDERS
THE SCHOOL CREST
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HISTORY PAGE
The original teaching staff comprised the four founders and
the two others who had just completed Mfantsipim School. These were M.F. Dei-Anang
and S.S. Sackey who for twenty years worked the dual capacity of teacher and
school Bursar. Mr. W.K. Lutterodt set up the Science Department and arranged
practical lessons at Achimota School at weekends for his students while Mr. G.N.
Alema taught Agricultural Science and held practical lessons on his farm In
December, 1932, the first batch of ten students were presented for the Junior
Cambridge School Certificate Examination. Seven of these passed. In 1939, forty five students were entered for the Senior
Cambridge School Certificate Examination. Forty two of these passed of whom ten
obtained exemption from the London Matriculation Examination. The impressive
examination results recorded by the school soon caught the attention of the
Department of Education and in 1947, a recommendation was made to the Director
of Education to place Accra Academy on the list of government assisted schools
and from 1st January, 1950, Accra Academy became a government assisted Even though the school started as a day school, accommodation
was later on secured in Claremont House, a storey building adjoining Ellen
house, to provide limited boarding facilities. In the course of time, the school
began to work towards the acquisition of a plot of land for the erection of
permanent building structures. Plots acquired at Kokomlemle and later Korle
Gonno were given up because of protracted litigation and remoteness of site,
respectively. In 1957, however, the school was offered a thirty seven acre
plot at Bubuashie, off Winneba Road by the C.P.P. government as a result of
negotiations in which Mr. J.A. Halm-Addo was very instrumental. The contract for
the construction of permanent buildings on the new site was awarded to J. Monta
& Sons in October, 1959. Actual work on the site began in December, 1959, and in
July, 1961, the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the school, the
contractors handed over the complete buildings to the school authorities. In
September of that year, staff and students moved to the present site.
Fifteen Arts and eight Science students were offered admission for the 1961/62
academic year. Business Education was incorporated into Sixth Form studies in
the school in September, 1970. The fiftieth year 1981 of Accra Academy outdoored
a full fledged second cycle institution with a student population of 900. Staff
establishment was 52. SPORTS The period also recorded laudable attainments in
sports. As early as 1934, the school appointed a sports master to run the They made their mark on the national sports map. The school
won the AGGREY SHIELD together with seven other enviable trophies in the annual
inter college athletics competition in 1950. It was from this competition that
the slogan "Accra Aca, Bleoo" came into being. Some of the outstanding national
athletes produced by the school are: Mr. Adjin-Tettey, ex-senior Athletics coach
of the National Sports Council; Mr. Kofi Aryeetey, also of the National Sports
Council; Mr. J.K. Aduakwa, coach, University of Ghana; Mr. Alex Asiedu,
Director, Sports College, Winneba; Mr. Ohene Djan, Director of Sports (C.O.S.)
during the First Republic; Mr. E.J.C. Quaye and Mr. H.P. Nyemitei, nationally
acclaimed sportsmen were also old boys who contributed immensely to sports in
Ghana. Accra Academy is among the 11 secondary schools granted
semi-autonomous status by the former P.N.D.C. Secretary for Education, Mr. K.B.
Asante in 1990. Arrangements were completed with With admission of senior Secondary Students in the 1990/91
academic year, the student population has increased to 1970 out of which 100 are
girls in the Sixth Form. The administration of the school since the time of its
foundation has been characterized by a remarkable degree of stability. Frequent
changes of headmasters has not been the want of Accra Academy. For the sixty years of its existence, the school has had only
four headmasters. Dr. K.G. Konuah, co-founder and first headmaster held office
for 21 years from 1931 to 1952. He was succeeded b Mr. Allotei Kobina Konuah - a
foundation student and later a teacher. It was during his tenure from 1952 to
1967 that the school moved to the present site at Bubuashie. Then came Mr. Jacob
Korley Okine, a past student and teacher. He was headmaster for 19 years, from
1967 to 1986. It was from Mr. Okine, that Mr. Vincent Birch Freeman, also a past
student took over as headmaster in November, 1986, having been headmaster of
Ebenezer Secondary School for twelve years. Mr. Freeman's tenure of office ended
in 1996. At the end of Mr. Freeman's term of office as headmaster, Accra
Academy had a tradition broken. The fifth head and the current Headmistress of
the school, Mrs Beatrice Lokko, is a woman and on-old student. The story of Accra Academy is one of sacrifice struggle,
survival and success. It took the personal sacrifice of the founding fathers to
the point of some sacrificing their salaries for a number of years to
see the school through turbulent years of struggle to survive. Today, Accra Academy stands as the success story of what
a vision carefully nurtured by devotion, dedication, discipline and perseverance
can achieve. The four founding fathers, all the members of staff, both teaching
and non-teaching, the Board of Governors, the Parent-Teacher Association and all
well-wishers who have been witnesses to this drama of a sixty-year journey will acknowledge with
joy that the seed sown by the founders indeed fell on fertile ground and have
yielded many worthy fruits. Many old students of the school occupy enviable positions in
and outside the country: -public servants, diplomats, politicians, jurists,
doctors, engineers, university professors, lawyers, teachers, chiefs and
business executives and a host of others. Perhaps the most notable achievement
is the election of Hon. Paul Boateng, an old boy, into the British House of
Commons. |
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On
a gentle hill to the north as one enters Accra on the Winneba road, a tall white
tower beshadows the campus of Accra Academy. 
The new buildings were officially opened later in February, 1962, by Mr. A.J. Dowuona-Hammond, then Minister of Education. A dormitory block
to provide boarding facilities was completed in 1966.