The Kpando District Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Ms Dora Agorsor, has underscored the need to teach students to apply knowledge acquired to real life situations. In order to enter the world of work, she said students do not just need knowledge but skills that are relevant for survival. It is a mark of quality education delivery and a clear indication of academic excellence when students are able to retain knowledge and apply it to relevant practical settings in the changing technological and competitive global job market. Ms Agorsor was addressing the 59th speech and prize giving day celebration of the Kpando Senior High School (KASEC) on the theme: “Discipline - Key to Academic Excellence” at Kpando. She said the conceptualisation of excellence in educational achievement was multidimensional and included policy direction, curriculum, the provision of infrastructure and logistics, teaching and learning materials, instructional practices, students’ ability, as well as evaluation and assessment methods, among others. She stressed the important role of parents towards complementing the teacher’s profession of instilling attributes of discipline from home in children and said once that was done, a gap would have been filled to encourage and motivate students to attain greater heights. Speaking on the theme, the presiding member of the Kpando District Assembly, Ms Margaret Krampa, noted that a number of studies had pointed to the home and school as the two major sources of character formation and the development of the rules of discipline. She, therefore, said poor parenting could lead to the inculcation of poor disciplinary behaviour since the home formed a critical stage in the child’s early character formation, and that misbehaviour in the family preceded misbehaviour in the society. Ms Krampa suggested that schools should define acceptable behaviours to be matched with appropriate sanctions that matched any violations, and that it should be known and understood by all members of the school community. She said reasoning, talking and listening to children should be used in interaction because behaviour and commitment improved when students were treated with respect and fairness by their teachers. The Volta Regional Director of the GES, Mr Gabriel Kploanyi urged all stakeholders to ensure that discipline permeated all levels from the school management to the student level, stressing that students in particular should emulate successful past students by making them role models to achieve excellence in life. In his address, the Headmaster of the school, Mr Fred K. Mordey, announced that the school scored 100 per cent in the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results last year and said it was a great improvement over 81.8 per cent achieved in the previous year. He disclosed that 14 students and tutors from Sweden visited the school in October last year with a reciprocating visit by seven students and two teachers from the school in February this year. Mr Mordey appealed to the chiefs and people of the Akpini traditional area to continue to associate themselves with the school and to defend the properties and dignity of the school, adding that “as we prepare for the 60th anniversary next year, I challenge them to put up a structure to mark the day.” In an address read on his behalf, the Kpando District Chief Executive, Mr Francis Ganyaglo, said the theme for the celebration was unique against the emerging manifestations of indiscipline such as examination malpractices, drug abuse, rape and cyber fraud in the school environment.