The Rt. Rev. Dr Hilliard Dela K. Dogbe, who doubled as the President of the Board of Bishops of The A.M.E. Zion Church and the Bishop of the Western West Africa Episcopal District, members of the Board of Bishops of The A.M.E. Zion Church, Mrs. Cynthia Dogbe, the Missionary Supervisor, Rev. Sylvester Donkor, the General Manager of The A.M.E. Zion Education Unit, the Presiding Elders and Pastors, Distinguished Guests, Staff and students, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I welcome you all to the occasion of a historic visit of the Board of Bishops of The A.M.E. Zion Church to Zion College. We are highly privileged to have the President of the Board of Bishops and his entourage in our noble school. This marks the Second official visit of the Bishop during my tenure as the Head of the School.
My Lord Bishop, I wish to give a brief background of the school to the benefit of our special Guests.
Zion College is the oldest secondary educational institution in the Volta Region of Ghana, an institution that has trained prominent citizens and contributed to human resource development in the sub-region of West Africa.
The school, formerly known as the New University College, was founded by the Rev. Dr Ferdinard Fiawoo, of blessed memory, in 1937, with a few students. The school was founded in response to the acute need for a post-elementary education facility in the West African region. It provided both secondary and tertiary education for the citizens of West Africa. Learners, therefore, had experience in vocational, professional, and literary educational programmes. The founder’s hopes and aspirations are represented in the crest designed for the school: a Bible and a scale. He believed in nurturing and training the youth in religious and moral uprightness to become responsible citizens who would give devoted services to the nation; hence, the motto: Character, Prudence, and Equality, reflects his aspirations.
In 1948, The A.M.E. Zion Church offered significant financial assistance to the founder, upon his request, to promote the development of the college. Subsequently, the name was changed to Zion College of West Africa.
The school was later absorbed into the Public Education System by the Government of Ghana in 1952.
Currently, the school implements the Senior High School educational policy of Ghana and has seven learning areas: Agricultural Science, Business, General Arts, General Science, Home Economics, Visual Arts, and Languages. Learners progress to the tertiary level of education in Ghana and other countries.
We have a population comprising 2026 students, 113 teachers, and 39 nonteaching staff. Currently, female students outnumber males due to the imbalance in accommodation facilities. Regarding boarding status, out of the 1,639 boarders, 1095 are girls, while 544 are boys.
The recent School Improvement Programme (SIP) implemented across the country required all SHS/SHTS /TVET to revise their Vision, Mission, and Core Values. Consequently, Zion College has reviewed its vision statement to envisage, “A preferred school for secondary education in Ghana to benefit all learners through excellence in the culture of teaching, learning, and character formation.”
This Vision shall be accomplished upon realizing its mission statement alongside strategies the school has outlined to improve upon its educational outcomes. Our revised mission statement is, “To ensure that every student develops their full potential and contributes positively to society through the provision of relevant educational programmes in a safe teaching and learning environment.”
The revised core values of the school are captured in the acronym “PRICE”:
P- Prudence, R- Responsibility, I- Integrity, C- Character, E- Equality
Indeed, we must pay the prize for transforming the school and making it a hub for academic excellence and a preferred choice for all parents and learners throughout the sub-region. Earnestly, teachers are participating in the capacity-building workshop that aims to prepare them to implement the new Standard-Based Curriculum. They have benefited from the weekly PLC and DPLC sessions and are currently undertaking the SSPLC as well as online courses on Sexual Harassment and Digital literacy.
Apart from the eight (8) hours of vigorous teaching and learning daily, the learners also have a period allotted for a seminar that guides students on health / hygiene/ sanitation, career guidance, socialization, edutainment, and other challenges pertaining to their studies. Besides, an hour is also dedicated for intervention classes. The school has conducted the initial intervention assessment (aptitude test) for the Four Hundred and Eighty Two (482) Fresh Students, who have enrolled in November, 2024. The Intervention classes shall be held in English and Mathematics to support improvement in the respective learning areas. Devotion and Sunday services are held regularly to build the faith of our learners, through messages from the Bible and on morality.
It is pride to know that Zion College, from its inception, has trained over 1.2 million students who have excelled in various fields of work and enterprises.
With regards to our achievements, the school regularly participates in the prestigious National Science and Maths Quiz competition and reached the one-eighth level of the competition in 2017, 2021 and 2024 respectively. The STEM club is also active and participates in STEM Fair competitions held in the Zone.
A maiden Academic Excellence Award event was held in March, 2023. Different categories of awards were presented to learners who have distinguished themselves in the various subject areas. The event also recognized some outstanding performance such as the overall best WASSCE performance, boy and girl, the overall best SHS 2 student, and the overall best SHS 1 student.
Furthermore, Zion College emerged as the champion in the 67th Independence Inter-District Debate Competition and Hogbetsotso Quiz Competition in 2023.
The school also performs creditably in academic work. Performance in the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination 2023 registered some improvement upon the 2022 (the previous) results. The overall pass rate was 99.5% in 2023, while it was 97.6% in 2022. The best aggregate, therefore, is aggregate 8. Out of the 739 candidates, 425 (58%) qualified to progress into a tertiary institution. About 20% improvement has been recorded in core Mathematics, English language, and General Science.
(Results obtained in 2023 were: Social Studies – 63%, English Language – 55%, Mathematics – 45%, and General Science – 38%, as compared with the 2022 results, thus Social Studies – 61.85%, English Language -42.62%, Mathematics – 23.73%, and Integrated Science – 32.25%.)
The overall best-performing students in SHS 1 and 2 have distinguished themselves with an average raw score of 836.5 and 833.5, respectively, during the 2022/2023 academic year.
Despite the several challenges, the school management is enthused about creating a safe and conducive environment worth promoting academic excellence, an ambience that would ensure educational excellence. With the effort of the school management and the tenacity of the Headmistress, many of these challenges are gradually being resolved, one after the other. Again, through the benevolence of the alumni, parents, individuals, and philanthropists, some major maintenance and refurbishment of the school facilities and logistics have been done to uplift the school’s image. Some of them were:
- Renovation of the old 4-unit classroom block
- The renovation of the Charity Zormelo’s Block by the 1981 alumni
- The refurbishment of the ICT lab by the 1981 alumni
- The renovation of the Sri Girls’ Long Dormitory by Rev Avudzivi
- Repair and maintenance of the Three girls’ houses (Kotoka, Sri, and Nkrumah), Mr. Christian Agbezudor of Cell Construction Limited
- Repainting of the School Main Gate, Mr. Jonathan Azasoo & 1982 alumni
- New bath house for the boys by 1973 alumni
- Renovation of the boys’ water-closet toilet facility
- 24 ceiling fans and a New Gate for Sri House donated by the 2006 alumni
- The illumination of the dining hall and the provision of 30 benches and
21 dining tables by Mr. Christian Agbezudor (Cell Construction Limited)
One of the significant challenges is the deteriorated nature of the only dormitory block for the boys. Through the efforts of the PTA and 1981 alumni, we hope to reroof the dormitory block by the end of January 2025.
The accommodation facilities for teachers who supervise, especially in the boarding house, are woefully inadequate.
Another significant infrastructure deficit is the Assembly Hall complex. It is worth noting that the Office of the Bishop envisaged constructing such an edifice in ZICO. We are optimistic that this project will become a reality. At the last Board meeting, the former General Manager of Zion Education Unit exhibited a blueprint of a Chapel/Assembly Hall complex. Similarly, a letter from the Zion Education Unit requested to partner with the PTA to metamorphose the stalled project into such a multipurpose function.
To highlight, the school deserves one beautiful chapel to signify the status of a mission school. I wish to inform our Bishop that the PTA has agreed to partner with the church so that the stalled project can be metamorphosed into a multipurpose hall to solve that specific challenge.
It is, therefore, our humble appeal to the President of the Board of Bishops to support us build this significant facility.
On this note, I welcome our beloved Bishop, the President and all the members of the Board of Bishops of The A.M.E. Church and the entourage to have a safe stay in and around Zion College, the Beautiful City of God. We love you all.
NAFRICAN !!! ARISE and SHINE!!!
ZICANS!!!! ARISE and SHINE !!!
Thank you.
