The Director of the UHAS Institute of Health & Research, Prof Margaret Gyapong, has underscored the importance of structuring educational syllabus to help children realize their potentials and not just train them for exams.

This she believes coupled with the availability of the needed resources would help groom the younger generation into illustrious future leaders.

She was speaking at a graduation ceremony of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) Basic School and the maiden edition of the school’s festival of nine lessons and carols.

The UHAS Basic School, established in January, 2021 seeks to impact knowledge into the younger generation by providing a distinguished model of education.

“If what I’ve seen here today reflects the kind of education that these beautiful children are getting, then indeed you have given them some good quality education which I believe is the best foundation on which we can raise leaders in any society."

"Quality education I believe is one that focuses on the whole child, the social, emotional, mental and cognitive development of each student regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status or geographic location and this kind of education needs to be structured to realize the potential of every single child regardless of location or economic status and prepare the child for life, not just writing an exam and passing it," she said.

He called for a consolidated approach in nurturing the young ones with requisite resources where parents and teachers play their respective roles to get the children to achieve the best in life.

"When we envisage and see our children as potential African leaders, we’ll allow them to excel in whatever field that they choose to go into. So let’s not push them all to be doctors, engineers and architects. Some of them can do dancing, some of them can read the news and some of them can read speeches like you’ve never heard before.

All our children need to be nurtured to be self assured and emotionally intelligent so that they can go on to pursue their passion and thrive in a profession of their choosing.”

The pupils shared in the Christmas spirit at the school’s maiden ‘A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols’ event which also doubled as the graduation ceremony for the kindergarten two pupils.

6 years old Fidelia Afi Aweyona Kpodo who was the Kindergarten two class representative, appreciated the commitment of their teachers towards shaping them to become people of substance in the future.

“No stone was left unturned. Our teachers were really on us and at a point we thought the pressure was too much. Homework and class work were coming in chains. As though that was not enough, mid term and holiday assignments would not allow us to watch our favorite cartoon channels."

"Looking at our performance a couple of months back, we asked ourselves if we could make it to the next class, however, by dint of hard work and diligence of our teachers, we can chest out to say that we’ve made it.
The class was always full of fun with both curricular and co-curricular activities. Someone entering our class for the first time would hardly notice if teaching and learning was going on", she detailed.

The Registrar of UHAS, Dr. Cynthia Sena Kpeglo, said it is a dream come true to establish a basic education unit.

The 21 kg2 graduates were presented with scrolls. They will progress to Basic 1 next academic year.

It was an exciting moment for these young ones who are the foundation pupils of the UHAS Basic School.