Thursday, 20th November, 2025
Hon Suhuyini Sayibu Alhassan
Tamale North
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to make this Statement to mark the 65th Anniversary of Ghana Secondary School (GHANASCO), Tamale.
Mr Speaker, it is with immense pride and a deep sense of nostalgia that I rise on behalf of the entire GHANASCO community, past and present students, dedicated staff, supportive parents and the esteemed board of governors, to celebrate a significant milestone, the 65th Anniversary of Ghana Secondary School, Tamale, fondly known as GHANASCO.
In the context of Ghana’s educational history, GHANASCO’s establishment was a significant step by Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah in expanding quality secondary education to the northern parts of the country. For decades, it has been an engine of social mobility and an intellectual hub, producing the skilled manpower that drives our agriculture, civil service, health and education sectors.
Mr Speaker, distinguished individuals such as one of Ghana’s most celebrated bankers and majestic traditional ruler, Mr Alhassan Andani (Pushigu Lana); the Hon Majority Leader of this august House and Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mr Mahama Ayariga; the former youngest Pro-Vice Chancellor of any university in Ghana, Professor Felix Kofi Abagaale; the highly regarded paediatrician, Professor Alhassan Abdul-Mumin; Abedi Ayew Pele, three-time African Footballer of the Year, and his brother, Kwame Ayew Pele; our celebrated Minister for Energy, John Abdulai Jinapor; and of course H. E. John Dramani Mahama, and his ever supportive and loving wife, the First Lady of the Republic of Ghana, Mrs Lordina Mahama; and of course my humble self, all consider this great institution more than just a school. It was a furnace that forged our character, a nursery that nurtured our talent, and it remains a beacon of hope and opportunity for generations of young Ghanaians.
Indeed, Mr Speaker, in this Chamber today, GHANASCO has the highest number of old students who are Members of Parliament in this country: Prof Hamza of Kumbungu, Hon Zuwera Ibrahimah of Salaga South, Hon Fathahiya Abdul-Aziz of Savelugu, Prof Alidu Seidu of Tamale Central, Hon Dan Latif of Ablekuma Central, Hon Solomon Kuyon of Krachi-Nchiumuru, Hon Alhassan Tampuli Sulemana of Gushegu, Hon Alhassan Umar of Zabzugu and others. For 65 years, GHANASCO has been a pillar of academic excellence and character formation in northern Ghana. Its motto, “Dania Suma Ni Suglo” has guided countless alumni to become leaders in every sector of our national life.
In 1974, GHANASCO became the first school in Ghana and Africa to launch a rocket, a landmark achievement that demonstrated the practical application of science education. This event remains a key part of the school’s history, and the rocket is featured on the school crest, etched on every uniform to remind students of their limitless capabilities. his 65th Anniversary is a testament to the resilience of its staff, the dedication of its students, and the enduring support of its community. As we look to the future, the role of schools like GHANASCO is more critical than ever. Investing in them is an investment in national cohesion and sustainable development.
Therefore, as we celebrate this 65-year journey, let us pledge to equip GHANASCO with the modern tools and infrastructure it needs to thrive in the 21st century.
This weekend, Mr Speaker, when we gather on the school compound, His Excellency the President, will commission an ultra-modern science laboratory and cut sod for the construction of an astroturf and other infrastructure facilities. I congratulate GHANASCO and wish it greater heights in the years to come. I also call on alumni, both home and abroad, to continue supporting their alma mater. Let us acknowledge the tireless efforts of the current teaching and non-teaching staff who carried the torch forward. And when one sees the beautiful buildings in GHANASCO that are painted for this anniversary, thank the Majority Leader of this House.
Thank you very much.
Hon Hamza Adam
Kumbungu
Thank you so much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to comment on the Statement ably made by Hon Alhassan Suhuyini on our great alma mater.
GHANASCO is one of the progressive and greatest secondary schools we have in this country. In the Northern Region, it is the number one. Although Tamale Secondary School students or alumni see GHANASCO as their rivals, we see them as mentees Indeed, GHANASCO has made a significant contribution to the human resource of this country. Hon Alhassan Suhuyini already mentioned a number of great people who have been produced by Ghana Secondary School, including H.E John Dramani Mahama and the First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama. Our great Leader has been mentioned as one of the alumni, and many others.
Mr Speaker, GHANASCO has nurtured and shaped the lives of many great academicians and great people in this country. I remember my days in GHANASCO. We had very great teachers who tried to put us in the right direction. Although we saw them as “wicked” teachers, I can tell you that today we appreciate them. The likes of Ababio and Abare were very great personalities who were very popular in Ghana Secondary School.
Mr Speaker, as we celebrate our anniversary, I would like to commend the management, the board, alumni and all for supporting Ghana Secondary School. I want to end by congratulating all of us, the alumni and well-wishers, on this, our celebration.
I thank you for the opportunity, Mr Speaker.
Hon Abdul Aziz Fatahiya
Savelugu
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise to add my voice to this important Statement made by my senior Colleague, Hon Suhuyini.
As a proud old student, I rise with gratitude. GHANASCO is not just a secondary school; it is an institution that has shaped northern Ghana’s education and leadership journey for 65 years. It has moulded generations through discipline, character formation and academic excellence.
Mr Speaker, for 65 years, GHANASCO has given hope to children from all walks of life, especially those who might otherwise have been denied access to secondary education. Today, its impact is evident in this Chamber, where GHANASCO proudly stands as the secondary school with the highest number of sitting Members of Parliament. That is the legacy of national significance. As we celebrate this milestone, it is important that we also look forward. GHANASCO needs renewed investment in modern classrooms, science and ICT laboratories, dormitories and a safe learning environment to prepare our young people for the demands of today’s world.
Mr Speaker, I join the call for stronger support for alumni, policymakers and stakeholders. I congratulate the headmaster, staff, students and the entire GHANASCO community for sustaining this legacy. Long live GHANASCO. Long live Ghana.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity—
Hon Solomon Kuyon
Krachi-Nchumuru
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to comment on the Statement made by Hon Suhuyini.
The Statement said it all. GHANASCO, just as he said, is not just a school, but an institution. I am not surprised today by the calibre of people GHANASCO has produced. We are not just talking about this House that we have the highest number, but if we go to other sectors, in sports, academia and in all the fields, we will find Ghanascans there. GHANASCO is a disciplined institution.
I encourage and urge my Colleagues to kindly send their wards there for proper training so that they will have great men and women in the future. I am very proud that I was trained in Ghana Secondary School.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
Hon Isaac Yaw Opoku
Offinso South
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, I just arrived from the office, and I am a little disappointed. First of all, let me commend the maker of the Statement, but I am disappointed that when he was doing the roll call, my name was omitted.
Mr Speaker, I am a proud old student of Ghana Secondary School. Our current president was one year ahead of me. Her Excellency the First Lady, was my year mate. So, Mr Speaker, I want it to go on record that I am a proud alumnus of Ghana Secondary School.
I had my Sixth Form education at Ghana Secondary School between 1977 and 1979. This come too close to the praising myself, but I was one of the best students that year. During our time, there were only two Sixth Form schools in the Northern Region, just two secondary schools: Tamale Secondary School and Ghana Secondary School. I am happy to inform the House that in 1979, Ghana Secondary School beat Tamale Secondary School during the Sixth Form, A-level examination.
Mr Speaker, Ghana Secondary School—not that year alone, but I am being specific. I want— Mr Speaker, the competition then was so stiff, and we were always competing with Tamale Secondary School.
In conclusion, it is not in doubt that Ghana Secondary School is one of the best secondary schools in the country. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Hon Seidu Mahama Alidu
Tamale Central
Thank you so much, Mr Speaker, for indulging me. I want to congratulate my Hon Colleague, Alhaji Suhuyini Sayibu Alhassan, for making this Statement.
He has enumerated the great and illustrious sons that Ghana Secondary School has produced. Even in this particular Chamber, I think we have more than 10 of us represented here. That is a great testimony to the vigilance and the discipline of training that we went through as students.
Mr Speaker, it was not just about the calibre of people that we have and the quality of training that we went through. Ghana Secondary School also provided the opportunity for social bonding. The first family attended GHANASCO and met there. I also met my wife at the Ghana Secondary School. I can mention several other colleagues who have made their better halves at Ghana Secondary School.
It is not just about the discipline and then the level of It was not just about the discipline and the quality of academic training that we went through. It provided an opportunity for social bonding, and we have all these great families and have been motivated by our better halves to do better.
Mr Speaker, you are one of the best Speakers we had in this country. I am just wondering whether your wife is also a former GHANASCAN.
Mr Speaker, I take this opportunity to invite you, if you are free, to participate in our activities this Saturday. I wish to thank the administration and then the students of Ghana Secondary School for bringing this school this far.
Thank you so much for indulging me, Mr Speaker.
Hon Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin
Effutu
Mr Speaker, let me thank you for the opportunity to add my voice to the Statement on the Floor ably read by the Alhaji Suhuyini Sayibu Alhassan, celebrating 65 years of his alma mater.
Mr Speaker, each of us here is a proud product of a secondary school. When it comes to that debate, it will be an endless debate. Down south, St Augustine’s, where I attended, will always be debating Mfantsipim and Adisadel College as to which school is superior. It comes, therefore, without doubt that today, the Rt Hon Speaker, a proud product of Tamale Secondary School—I know Mr Haruna Iddrisu is of the Tamale stock. These GHANASCO people—
Mr Speaker, just their 1979 win, they want to rub it in. Mr Speaker, you should have hesitated in admitting the Statement, knowing what was ahead. But as the democrat that you are, you want them to have their day. One thing I pick from this is that our formative days in our various secondary schools are days that we must be very proud of. The teachers who played important roles in our lives. This is a 276-Member Parliament. Each of us has had the benefit of secondary education. So, it is a moment to celebrate public secondary education in our country.
Surprisingly, parents would pay huge moneys to private schools for Primary and Junior High School (JHS) education for their children. But when it gets to secondary school, they take their children to public schools. It tells one that there is something that our teachers in public schools are doing that gets every parent wanting their son or daughter to be a beneficiary of public secondary education.
Mr Speaker, while our friends are celebrating this day, let me also take the opportunity to congratulate all teachers in public schools for what they have
done for Mother Ghana. At least they have made it possible for this Chamber to be populated by their own products. As for the aspect of the submission that Ghana Secondary School Old Students are the highest in this Chamber, it is a matter for another day. I will not contest it now, but I have my serious doubt. Because many of my good Friends in this Chamber, as I can see, are from GHANASCO, I will let them have their day.
Let me congratulate them and wish them well and many accomplishments. Thank you so much indeed.
Hon Ayariga Mahama
Bawku Central
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
In the spirit of reconciliation, I want to share my time with the Hon Minister for Education, who is the host MP for Ghana Secondary School, but unfortunately, he never benefited from the very good teaching that GHANASCO offers.
Mr Speaker, I have very fond memories of GHANASCO as a secondary school. But to tell you the truth, when I was choosing a secondary school to attend, my first choice was TAMASCO. My first choice was TAMASCO because at that time, the headmaster of TAMASCO was my uncle, Alhaji Belko. That was the only reason. But my father attended GHANASCO. He was among the first batch of students who started the school. His schoolmate, L. M. Awuni, had become the headmaster of Ghana Secondary School. So, when I showed him my application, he took it, put it aside and said, “you are going to GHANASCO”. Indeed, all of us, his children, went to GHANASCO and we have never regretted.
Mr Speaker, I started practising law in GHANASCO. I had a small legal practice there. Any time students were invited to appear before the disciplinary committee, which used to sit, I think, at that time in the science block, I would go and hide in a corner. As the students went in to appear before the disciplinary committee, I listened to each of them and I told them what to go and tell the committee, so that their stories would be consistent and disorganise the committee. So, the committee was having difficulty taking decisions until they managed to get one of the students to confess that I was sitting outside all the time feeding them and guiding them on what to say at the committee hearings.
So, my housemaster, Mr Kumah, who was an agriculture teacher, came to the dormitory one Saturday on inspection. After the inspection, he was addressing us and reported that it had been discovered that I was in the habit of hiding in a corner and managing the work of the disciplinary committee and making it difficult. That was the first time I heard the word “bamboozle”, he said “bamboozling the committee”. Mr Speaker, since then, I have not forgotten the word “bamboozle”. He made a profound statement and said, “I think you should be a lawyer”. That was what made me, later in life, decide that I wanted to be a lawyer, even though in school I was actually the best Arts student. My mother wanted me to go to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to study Arts.
Mr Speaker, as for the rivalry between GHANASCO and TAMASCO, it is what has really formed GHANASCO. We pride ourselves with being small, but with higher quality. When we talk about performance in O-Level and A-Level, TAMASCO would always sit many students. Yes, the story of GHANASCO is never complete without talking about TAMASCO.
Mr Speaker and the Minister for Education know that. That is why, even in this Chamber, the story of TAMASCO and GHANASCO is that GHANASCO has produced more Members of this Chamber than TAMASCO even with our small numbers. The only thing we have not done is to get a Speaker.
Mr Speaker, as I said, I want to share my time with the Minister for Education, in whose constituency GHANASCO sits. I want to just conclude by saying that we are all very proud products of Ghana Secondary School. We want to urge the young ones who are there now to look up to us and be inspired to perform.
In all the secondary schools in Ghana, both the international schools and the grade A schools, if among all of them, in this Chamber, a school as small as Ghana Secondary School has produced the highest number of Members of Parliament, then those who are there in that school today should be inspired and to know that the sky is the limit. Mr Speaker, on Saturday, we will all be there, led by the President and the Minister for Education to join them commemorate the 65th Anniversary of the school.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Haruna Iddrisu
Tamale South
Mr Speaker, I should thank the Hon Suhuyini, Member of Parliament for Tamale North, for leading the observation and celebration of the 65th Anniversary of
Ghana Secondary School, Tamale, which, without any debate, has produced the First Gentleman of the Republic in the person of President John Dramani Mahama and the First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama and many other personalities who have served this country in various ways.
But, Mr Speaker, Hon Mahama Ayariga knows that part of his attraction to GHANASCO was the aduwa. He was chasing some aduwa, waakye, which was very popular at that time. He was in GHANASCO because of aduwa—He remembers that very well. Then gablei, which is called tubaani in Dagbani. Those were his attractions.
But, Mr Speaker, on a more serious note, we used to refer to Ghana Secondary School as Kuko Middle, a kind of middle school, if you would recall. So, Mr Speaker, this year they are celebrating GHANASCO at 65, a legacy of excellence, inspiring future generations. I am sure the number of Members of Parliament who are serving the Republic in various capacities and those who have made the nation proud in their service to the country would be there.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minority Leader raised a significant issue, which should guide our debate forward. He made reference to Mfantsipim School, Adisadel College and St Augustine’s College. I will even add Presbyterian Boys Secondary School (PRESEC) and Achimota Senior High School (Motown); the rivalry of these institutions has been healthy and competitive. That healthy competitiveness has allowed them to strive even for greater excellence. We need to have more of those categories of school.
Mr Speaker, it also gives a poignant position of how late education arrived in Northern Ghana. Mfantsipim School will celebrate 150 years next year, but GHANASCO is 65 years. We see a huge gap in terms of access to secondary education.
Mr Speaker, as he rightly stated, the President of the Republic, Mr Mahama, has confirmed that he will be the special guest of honour in GHANASCO on Saturday to join them celebrate 65 years. And also, to say thank you, GHANASCO, at least for the training which has made him President of our Republic today and he is now endearing to many. To all GHANASCANS, we say we want to congratulate you at 65. Mr Speaker, let me conclude with just a translation of—
Mr Speaker, I am just concluding on Dania Suma, which is typical in the Northern Languages. It is about good intentions, that whatever we do, we should let it be led by good intentions, which is what the heart does and not what the mouth does. We should be guided with good intentions in everything we want to do, even in our public service.
I thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
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