It is no secret that the competition for good senior high schools in Kumasi is stiff. This is because parents want the best for their children. Second, Kumasi has some of the best high schools in Ghana. Third, every parent, teacher, or student wants to be placed in a top-ranked school for obvious reasons.
The question then becomes, which schools should you consider if you are looking for the best? In this article, we will provide you with a guide to the best senior high schools in Kumasi.
NB: it must be noted that this list is purely based on the recent WASSCE ranking and not on media sensationalism. Albeit, the last 3 on the list are purely in there for their performance and reputation over the years.
Table of Contents
1. St. Louis Senior High School
First on our list, is one of the best senior high schools in Kumasi – single-sex(all girls) located in the Oduom suburb of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region is St. Louis Senior High School, nicknamed “Louis (Luwee)”
History
Most Rev. Hubert Pailissen, SMA, in early 1949, said; “In this country, scarcely 15 percent of the school-going early life are girls. The people now start to recognize that greater ought to be executed in favour of this much–neglected section of the human race, and the chiefs, aware of their responsibility in the direction of their subjects, requested us to set up colleges for ladies in their respective villages…. But to achieve results, it is fundamental that the course of girls’ faculties must be in the hands of ‘Sisters of a Teaching Order’ with the essential ride in the modern improvement of pedagogic methods.”
Hence, on 18 October 1947, the first St. Louis Sisters arrived in the country. They were to proceed the walking of an already-established fundamental school, the St. Bernadette School, now popularly known as ‘Roman Girls’.
True to character, the St. Louis Sisters, who in no way do matter by the halves, determined to set up a new secondary faculty on the same compound.
In 1952, St. Louis Secondary was opened, with a preliminary crew of 12 girls. Only some out of this team survived to join the second crew of 1953 to make forty-two by December 1957, when the surviving team wrote their “O” Level Examination, they numbered 11.
Most of the salaries of the Sisters, the cash raised, and Diocesan contributions went into creating the compound and obtaining vital inputs.
The church desired the Apostolate of Education to enhance the fundamental project of forming robust and enlightened Christians, successful in exercising a lot of impact in social and political affairs. Perhaps, there is no department that wished greater interest than lady education.
Long before “Girl child” schooling grew to be a famous slogan, the Catholic Church and St. Louis understood the depth of its importance. That is why the St. Louis Sisters and the Church constantly adopted a holistic method of education.
Also Read: St. Louis Senior High School: Everything You Need To Know!
Uniform Colours
GREEN AND WHITE
Facilities
9 boarding houses, science laboratories, adequate teaching classrooms, school playing field, school buses, Library, a large assembly hall and a dining hall.
Programmes Offerred
ST. Louis offers General Science, Visual Arts, General Arts, Home Economics and Business programs.
Achievements
- 2010 Project Citizen Ghana National Showcase Award Winners
- Two St. Louis Students win top SHS International Excellence Awards for 2008
2. Kumasi High School
Kumasi High School, frequently referred to as KUHIS, is a boys’ senior high school in Kumasi in the Ashanti region of Ghana. It was founded in 1962, by S. K. Amoah. The students are known entirely as “Mmerantee” (Gentlemen). It is located in Gyinyase near Ahinsan Estate. The motto of the school is” Truth conquers”.
History
Kumasi High School began as a private institution called Kwame Nkrumah Secondary School under the initiative of S. K. Amoah. In 1963, the School moved to Kwadaso in Kumasi from Asuoyeboa and occupied rented premises.
In the 1965/66 academic year, Amoah’s school was engulfed by the government and became a public institution, with the same name as Kwame Nkrumah Secondary School.
The school then moved to Kwadaso, another rented premises owned by P. K. Mensah, a contractor whose son was then a student of the school. Albert Appiah, who was then a tutor at Prempeh College, was elected as the first Headmaster of the school.
The fallout of the 1966 military coup d’état that overthrew President Nkrumah’s regime saw the school’s name being changed to the present name, Kumasi High School.
The school was a mixed institution and during the 1966/67 academic year, the female students were transferred to Kumasi Girls Secondary School (KUGISS) thus, paving the way for a boys’ school.
Also Read: Kumasi High School: Everything You Need To Know [+Pictures]
Uniform Colours
PEACH AND BROWN SHORTS
Facilities
8 boarding houses, science laboratories, adequate teaching classrooms, school playing field, School buses, library, a large assembly hall and a dining hall.
Programmes Offerred
KUHIS offers General Science, Visual Arts, General Arts and Business programs.
Achievements
Kumasi high school was once awarded Best African Business School. The School has made a lot of effort and has won a lot of awards over the years. They have been to the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) in the past.
In 2012 Kumasi High School placed 4th in position after they got to the semi-finals. Kumasi High School is the only school with the highest point in the Quarterfinals of the NSMQ. The school beat Adu Gyamfi to win their first Milo competition.
3. Prempeh College (PC)
Number 3 on the list is PC – Prempeh College.
Prempeh College, nicknamed “Amanfoɔ” is a public secondary school for boys situated in Kumasi (Sofoline).
History
The college was founded in 1949 by the Asanteman traditional authority, the British Colonial Government, the Methodist Church Ghana and also the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.
The school is named after the King of Ashanti, (Asantehene) Sir Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II, who donated the land on that the varsity was designed and was built on Eton College in England.
Prempeh College was based through collaboration between the Kumasi Traditional Council, the Protestant and Methodist churches within the then Gold Coast and the British Colonial Government.
Until 1949, there was no government-assisted lyceum in the Ashanti region and the northern sector of Ghana. Most students had to trip the coastal areas of Ghana to attend established faculties like Achimota College, Mfantsipim college et al.
In the early Forties, the British Colonial Government invited the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches, that had already established institutions like Wesley girls high school and also the Protestant Boys secondary school in Krobo Odumase based on their expertise, to assist set up a faculty within the middle belt of Ghana to serve the northern sector of the country.
Though there have been some delays because of the second warfare, in 1948 Prempeh school was designed by far-famed British modernist designer Maxwell Fry and his partner Jane Drew.
Also Read: Prempeh College: Everything You Need to Know!
Uniform Colours
Green shirt and Brown shorts
Facilities
9 boarding houses, science laboratories, adequate teaching classrooms, school playing field, school buses, library, a large assembly hall and a dining hall.
Programmes Offerred
PC offers General Science, Visual Arts, General Arts and Business programs.
Achievements
Prempeh College is the first Secondary institution in Ghana and Africa to win the World Robofest 2016 or World Robotics competition, beating giants from China, Japan and other industrialized countries. They won the Toyota Innovation Award that year and are the only school from Africa to win it.
Prempeh won the maiden edition of the National Science and Maths Quiz in 1994 and again won it in 1996, 2015, 2017 and 2021 editions.
Prempeh College won the Best Sporting School for the 2012/2013 academic year in Ashanti Region by amassing four trophies including Regional Basketball, Hockey, Handball and Interco competitions.
The school has won the National Debate Competition in 1997 and 2004 and runners-up in 2009.
Of course, Prempeh College is no doubt one of the best senior high schools in Kumasi.
4. Kumasi Wesley Girls
Ranked number 4 on the 2021 top schools according to WASSCE results, Kumasi Wesley Girls High School is making a case for themselves and the future of the school. Underate them at your own peril.
The best category B school in this list and that’s a huge statement from these girls and the administration. And they’ve done it consistently with ease.
On the main road from Suame to the Tafo township in the Kumasi metro is the Kumasi Wesley Girls High School. Adjacent to the good ol’ Westley College.
History
The origin The school goes back to the 1960s, a few years after Ghana’s independence when the Methodist community in Kumasi spearheaded by the Wesley Methodist Cathedral at Adum, had an impulse to establish a school of their own. Mainly for congregants who couldn’t bankroll their Members’ charges to educate their children. The cost of Boarding Secondary Education was gradually becoming a hindrance for many parents and students.
In late 1979, Reverend Rev. Johnson, who was the then Superintendent Minister in charge of Wesley Methodist Church, decided to make this dream a reality and as they say, the rest is history.
Wesley Girls’ High School was ranked 68th out of the top 100 best high schools in Africa by Africa Almanac in 2003, based upon the quality of education, student engagement, strength and activities of alumnae, school profile, internet and news visibility.
Also Read: Category B Schools in Ashanti Region
Uniform Colours
GREEN AND YELLOW
Facilities
9 boarding houses, adequate teaching classrooms, a school playing field, School buses, library, an assembly hall, a dining hall, and Science Laboratories.
Programmes Offerred
KUGISS offers Business, Home Economics, General Science, General Arts, and Visual Arts programs.
Achievements
The school has won the Sprite Ball Championship in 2008 and 2016.
5. T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School
The last school on our list is T.I Ahmabiyya who is almost always the “champion” among the best senior high schools in Kumasi when it comes to sporting activities. They are also known as Real AMASS or AMASS Phobia.
History
Between 1948 and 1952, three secondary schools sprang up in the Ashanti Region, all of them located in Kumasi, the Region’s capital. In order of seniority (that is, the date of establishment), these were Prempeh College, T. I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School and Opoku Ware School.
What made T. I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School different was that, while Prempeh and Opoku Ware were Christian mission schools. The school was launched by a Muslim organization, the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, now more popularly known in the country as the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission.
This was at a time when, rather regrettably, some Muslims thought that taking your child to the white man’s school was the surest way for the child to go to hell after death. To the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, however, setting up Whiteman’s school was in line with the Holy Quran’s teaching about the acquisition of knowledge.
Not long after the first Pakistani Missionary of the Mission arrived at Saltpond, the Mission’s first primary school was founded. That was some 77 years ago.
In March 2001, T. I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School celebrated its Golden Jubilee. How has the school been managed?
The decision to establish a secondary school was taken without too much sweat. What presented preliminary problems was the decision on where to station the school. After much discussion, the final decision was taken to site the school in Kumasi.
Also Read: Category B Schools in Kumasi: Everything you Need to Know!
Uniform Colours
Cream and Blue-Black
Facilities
Adequate boarding houses, adequate teaching classrooms, multipurpose school playing field, badminton court, school buses, Library, an assembly hall, dining hall, and science laboratories.
Programmes Offerred
Real AMASS offers Business, General Science, General Arts, and Visual Arts programs.
Achievements
As said earlier, they are the champions Of Kumasi sporting activities and thus have great achievements. And some are;
1. National Champions (Girls’ Division) – Sprite Ball Championship 2014 and 2015
2. Regional Basketball Champions (Girls’ Division) – Ashanti Regional Inter-School Soccer Competition 2013, 2014 and 2015
3. Regional Soccer Champions (Girls’ Division) – Ashanti Regional Inter-School Soccer Competition 2015 and 2016
4. Regional Soccer Champions (Boys’ Division) – Ashanti Regional Inter-School Soccer Competition 2009.
6. Opoku Ware School
Opoku Ware School regularly referred to as OWASS, is one of the best senior high schools in Kumasi for boys in Ghana Ghana.
It is located in Fankyenebra, close to Santasi, along the Kumasi-Obuasi road. The patron saint of the college is Saint Thomas Aquinas. The motto of the school is “Deus Lux Scientiae”, which means “God is the Light of Knowledge”.
History
It was once set up in 1952, as one of the five Catholic schools in Ghana that year. The college was named after Asante King Opoku Ware I. The students are acknowledged collectively as Akatakyie, an Asante phrase that means “conquering heroes”.
OWASS opened its doorways on 28 February 1952 to 60 young boys to the school, initially known as Yaa Asantewaa College.
Opoku Ware School was the first Catholic Boys School in the Asante Kingdom though, it is the Second all-boys school in the region. Until its establishment, youth from the Ashanti Kingdom and the Northern section of Ghana who desired Catholic schooling had to journey south across the Pra River to attend secondary schools.
Two weeks after the school opened, the title was modified to Opoku Ware School following consultations with and guidelines from the Manhyia Palace. This was to honour one of the most illustrious Asante Kings, who in May 1744 approached the Roman Catholic Mission at the Elmina Castle to teach Asante youth.
Also Read: Opoku Ware School: Everything You Need To Know!
Uniform Colours
VANILLA, BLUE, BROWN (SHORTS)
Facilities
9 boarding houses, adequate teaching classrooms, a school playing field, school buses, a library, an assembly hall and a dining hall, and science laboratories.
Programmes Offerred
The school offers Business, General Science, Agric Science, General Arts, and Visual Arts programs.
Achievements
The school has won the Science and Maths quiz twice and has been runners-up four times. The school is voted to be the second-best school in Ghana, second only to Presec Legon School. In addition,
OWASS has won the National Debate Competition once and placed second in the 2002 competition as well.
The school has won 9 out of the 13 Superzonals Athletic competitions in recent years in the Ashanti region.
Opoku Ware School is the only school in Ghana that has handed the heaviest NATIONAL SCIENCE AND MATHS QUIZ defeat to Prempeh College, one of the grade-A schools in Ghana, in a 96–46 score that shocked the airwaves in Ghana.
7. Pentecost Senior High School, Kumasi
Making a rear appearance on the list is the Pentecost Senior High School. Coming from Breman, Mpatasie – Kumasi, Pentecost is making history.
Inasmuch as it is a category C school should tell you that you don’t need to be one of the so-called elites to be successful, especially in academics. Of course, they might have presented a small number of students for the WASSCE but that doesn’t take anything from this achievement. Careful planning, focus and perseverance are key. It’s all in your head.
History
A Mission school, founded and managed by the Pentecost Church in 2006. Like many schools in Ghana, it was absorbed by the government in 2018.
The Mission school for Pentecost was founded by the Church in 2006. In 2018, the mission school was absorbed by the Government.
A simple mission “To provide resources, discipline and favourable environment that will help develop the hidden potentials and heart efficiently.” The Vision is “To be an enviable unique center where students are trained to use their hands and hearts efficiently.”
NB: The full list of the rankings isn’t out but our editorial team thought we would a few schools (the last 3) an honourable mention due to their reputation over the years. Notwithstanding, if the full list of the 2021/2022 rankings is out and they move up or down, the needed changes will be effected accordingly.
8. Kumasi Anglican Senior High School (KASS)
The Anglican Senior High School is a co-educational secondary college established in 1973. It is located in Asem, a suburb of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
History
In the early 1920s, the KASS site was acquired from the Amakom chief through the English Church Mission (E.C.M.) with the intention of setting up an organization to educate clergy and facilitate the increase of the church in the Gold Coast.
In 1952, when thirty training colleges had been set up nationwide, the Anglican Church was asked to use the Kumasi facilities to run Wiawso Training College till the permanent structures for the university had been built at Wiawso in the Western Region.
Mr. N.Y. Topp Yankah was appointed the first Principal from 1952 to 1956, followed by S. Blankson, from 1961 to 1964, when the structures at Wiawso grew to be equipped to receive both college students and the administrative staff. Wiawso Training College was then moved to Sefwi Wiawso. The structures and the related infrastructural facilities had been left vacant.
To fill the vacuum in Kumasi, the Anglican Church applied to the Government for the Day Teacher Training College (which had already been set up at the Bishop’s House and faculty compound in Accra) to be transferred to Kumasi.
In September 1956, the college used to be opened in Kumasi beneath the principalship of E.O. Nortey, a former resident housemaster of Wiawso Training College, Kumasi campus.
Due to ill-health, he vacated the post. In January 1967, Rev’d P.D. Aggrey BD (Lond), who had served as Chaplain and later vice-principal of Adisadel College, Cape Coast, succeeded him.
In 1972 when the second Republic (under Prime Minister K. A. Busia) was overthrown by Colonel I. K. Acheampong, the new authorities decided that several training colleges would be transformed into secondary schools or closed.
Anglican Training College was listed as one of those to close. The staff, supported by their Principal Fr Aggrey, signed a petition asking the authorities not to shut the college, however, to convert it into a secondary school to be referred to as Anglican Secondary School, Kumasi.
The petition was once sent through the Bishop, Rt. Rev. J B Arthur, who in flip wrote a covering letter approving of the petition. Both letters were forwarded to the then secretary of Education, Colonel Nkegbe in Accra.
The petition was granted and in September 1973 Anglican Training College became Anglican Secondary School.
Also Read: Kumasi Anglican Senior High School: All You Need To Know!
Uniform Colours
GOLD AND PURPLE
Facilities
7 boarding houses, adequate teaching classrooms, a school playing field, School buses, library, an assembly hall and a dining hall, and Science Laboratories.
Programmes Offerred
The school offers Business, General Science, Agric Science, General Arts, Home Economics and Visual Arts programs
Achievements
Kumasi Anglican Senior High School was the 1st Runner up in the 2007 National Maths and Science Quiz and 2016 Ashanti Region Milo Competition champion. The school is known for regularly sending sports representatives to local, regional and national competitions.
9. Asanteman Senior High School
Asanteman Senior High School (often known as ASASS) is a co-educational second-cycle institution in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The school is considered the official school of the Ashanti Empire, with the Asantehene being the patron of the school.
Students are known as “Nananom” an Asante word meaning “Kings and Queens”. Due to its affiliations to the Ashanti Kingdom, the school holds cultural and traditional practices in the highest esteem.
Asanteman Secondary has prided itself as grooming grounds of kings and queens, where students are edified on the cultures of the Ashanti kingdom. This is why upon completion, students assume the title “Nana” which means a King or a Queen. Another well-known senior high school in Kumasi.
History
The school was founded as a co-educational day school in 1954 by the Asante Youth Association (AYA) in response to the growing demands for more second-cycle educational institutions in Ashanti.
The school remained under the auspices of AYA until 1962 when it was absorbed into the public system by the government and from then on it grew from an initial one stream to three streams in the 1980s.
Presently, the school runs ten streams in each of the three forms with a student population of about 1,500, 65 masters and 29 non-teaching staff. The school was the fourth school to be established in the Ashanti Region and it was established in 1954.
Also Read: Asanteman Senior High School: Everything You Need To Know!
Uniform Colours
Green and White
Facilities
12 boarding houses, adequate teaching classrooms, a school playing field, school buses, a library, an assembly hall, a dining hall, and Science Laboratories.
Programmes Offerred
Great ASASS offers Business, Home Economics, General Science, General Arts, and Visual Arts programs.
ACHIEVEMENTS
The school has seen a continuous development in the Senior Secondary School Examination (SSSCE) results and has achieved good results in the schools’ quizzes and debates.
The school was runners-up in 1997 and third in 1998 in the Milo Soccer Competitions and beat Osei Kyeretwie Secondary School (OKESS) for the first time in 2003 in the Ashanti region zonal athletics competition.
10. Yaa Asantewaa Girl Senior High School (YAGHS)
Yaa Asantewaa Girl’s Senior High School (Yagshs) is an all-female second-cycle institution in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
History
Yaa Asantewaa Girls’ Senior High was once set up in 1951 through Ghana’s first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. The school was founded in 1960 with money from the Ghana Education Trust. Yaa Asantewaa is named after the Queen mother of Ejisu, Yaa Asantewaa who led a battle in opposition to the British Colonialists.
Also Read: Yaa Asantewaa Senior High School: Everything You Need To Know!
Uniform Colours
SKYBLUE AND WHITE
Facilities
9 boarding houses, adequate teaching classrooms, a school playing field, school buses, a library, an assembly hall, a dining hall, and science laboratories.
Programmes Offerred
YAGHS offers Business, Home Economics, General Science, Agric Science, General Arts, and Visual Arts programs.
Achievements
One of their best achievements is the constantly spectacular academic report over the previous few decades. In the last nationwide educational league table declared in 2007, YAGSS ranked 2nd after the cluster of schools that took the first position.
For the previous few years of school assessment, YAGSHS featured confidently amongst the first-class ten schools. The school is the 1st GET girls’ college in that regard, with all the rest being mission schools.
For the third consecutive time, with the new WASCCE programme, their students scored a hundred percent in over 25 out of the whole of 30 subjects, no candidate had fewer than six passes, and no results had been canceled or withheld.
In Conclusion
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