DAN-IBU INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, A CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE (PAGE 20)

AMR Ekow Amega, a public servant working with a reputable organisation in the country, was transferred from Takoradi to Wa, the Upper West Regional capital, six years ago as part of his company’s policy.
Mr Amega, being a typical family man, was torn between bringing his family to Wa or leaving them behind at his former station. The reason was how to get a good school to enrol his children who were attending one of the first-class basic schools in Takoradi.
After reflecting over the issue for a month, he decided to relocate the family, damning the consequences.
Little did he know that the first-class school he wanted for his children also existed in Wa. He, therefore, enrolled them in that school and today the first born of his children is attending one of the glamorous senior high schools in the country, in Cape Coast.
Do you want to know the name of the School? It is Dan-Ibu International school.
Established in 1989 by a retired educationist and former Member of Parliament for Wa Central, Mr M. A. Seidu, the school is now a household name in the Upper West Region and some parts of the country.
With the support and encouragement of people like Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, Messrs Sumani Yakubu, Issahaque Malik, Amoabeng, Haruna Zakaria, and the late Wa Naa Alhaji Momori Bondiri II and more important an organisation like Takoradi Flour Mills, Mr M.A. Seidu established the school.
The school started its operations on October 10, 1989 with 41 pupils and four teachers in temporary premises. It began at a time when there was not a single private school in the region and very few people had acquired the habit of paying fees.
It was, therefore, a very big gamble for the proprietor, but his attempt has become a big success.
Among Mr Seidu’s objective for establishing the school was to encourage senior civil/public servants posted to the region to accept posting to the region, since their children were assured of quality education.
Presently, the school has grown by leap and bounds. The institution has four divisions, namely, the crèche, kindergarten, primary and junior high schools. At the moment, the total population of the school is 1,100 with a teaching staff of 34 and 29 non-teaching staff.
Since its inception, the institution has always been first among equals, as it has been obtaining 100 per cent passes in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for the past 10 years.
It has also produced seven head of state award winners, winners of the National Science and Kiddie quiz competitions and has also produced a soccer star in the person of Sadat Bukari of the senior national team, the Black Stars.
Currently, more than 20 former pupils of Dan-Ibu are in the medical school and other tertiary educational institutions in the country.
“We are happy to inform you that all our students usually get placement in their first choice senior high schools across the country, including the very endowed schools in the southern sector of the country,” the superintendent of the school, Mr Adam Mumuni, told the Daily Graphic.
On discipline, he said the school management did not compromise any indiscipline on the part of teachers and pupils. “Management does not spare indisciplined staff and pupils.”
According to Mr Mumuni, the situation had to a large extent resulted in maintaining high academic standards in the school.
He said in spite of those achievements, the school still faced some challenges in its efforts to promote and sustain quality education.
Mr Mumuni stated that the school seriously needed a dining hall while the computer laboratory under construction was yet to be completed.
Another big challenge facing the school is the disposal of refuse, which has become the headache of the management of the school.
Mr Mumuni, therefore, appealed to parents, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders to go to the aid of the school.
He commended the staff of the institutions for their contribution in raising the level of discipline in the school.
In a spech read on his behalf at the School’s ninth speech and prize giving day recently the Upper West Regional Minister, Mr George Hikah Benson, was happy that Dan-Ibu had emerged as an important educational asset in the region.
“The school has achieved a remarkable standard in the promotion of basic education and continues to attract people who seek quality education in private schools in the region,” he added.
Mr Benson paid tribute to Mr Seidu for being a pacesetter and encouraged others to emulate his example.
“The region would continue to be grateful to Mr M.A. Seidu,” the regional minister stressed.
Mr Seidu told the Daily Graphic about his plans to expand facilities at the institution next year in order to admit more pupils.
“The establishment of Dan-Ibu was my social responsibility to Ghana,” he emphasised.