THE PREMPEH COLLEGE EXAMPLE

Thursday October 08, 2009

Twenty-five students of Prempeh College in Kumasi have been withdrawn by the school’s board for non-performance.

As reported in last Wednesday’s Times, those affected include eight form-one students and 17 second year students, whose results were said to have deteriorated as they failed in the second and third term examinations.

According to the school authorities, parents and guardians of the affected students were at various times informed about the poor performance of their wards and warned of the need for them to improve their performance or be withdrawn.

We share the pain of the parents and guardians, considering the lost investments, thus far, in their children.

It must be noted, however, that the nation’s future cannot be built on lazy students who do not take their lesson seriously.

The news report does not go into the details of the real causes of the students’ consistently poor performance.

We would have liked to know because although it is generally class-less, Prempeh College, like the other privileged second cycle schools, attracts a certain high level of academically brilliant students. So unless a student obtained admission through the “back-door” or something cataclysmic happened to him somewhere along the way, a student of Prempeh College should not fall back so much that he is academically helpless.

It is relatively more difficult to gain admission to Grade “A” schools like Prempeh College, where they have virtually all facilities needed for sound education.

Could it be a case of peer pressure on young people who were not able to soak it in?
Whilst siding with the decision of the board to withdraw non-performing students, we think it is high time parents/guardians showed more interest in the academic performance of their wards.

The wholesale promotion system has been blamed for falling (or fallen) standard of education in the country, and we could not agree more with the Prempeh College authorities.

If for nothing at all, the action would put fear in other students who have a tendency to fool about.

There is a saying that “where you are is not as important as what you do there.” It is not the presence in a prestigious school that makes a good student; it is what the student does in the prestigeous school.

We can only hope that the affected students will learn their lesson and encourage themselves to pull their weight if ever they have a second chance.

The Times is sad that in difficult times such as most parents/guardians find themselves, students lucky enough to gain admission to a good school like Prempeh have squandered the chance.

It is a truism that “one cannot eat his cake and have it back”. This saying must echo in the minds of all students in the country, by the Prempeh College case.

The action against the 25 students must therefore be taken as a as a wake-up call to all students to be serious with their studies. We hope, also, that other school authorities are listening and learning.

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