Brief History of the School
The school was founded by Dr. Gabriel Amoateng-Boahen and his wife Mrs. Agatha Amoateng-Boahen who is currently acting as proprietress of the school. The aim of establishing the school was to provide affordable and accessible holistic education for the deprived children, especially those living within Daban and the surrounding townships like Sokoban, Ampeyoo, Krofrom, Asagoe, Ampabame, Kronkomase, Atasomanso and many more. These communities are all located on the outskirts of Kumasi City in Ghana. The school is duely registered with the appropriate authorities. The school was originally known as Maranatha International School. With changes in time,
the school also changed its name to Young Apostles International School to reflect the founder’s vision. Despite the new name, the community still referred to the school as Maranatha to the extent that the area where the school is located is called Maranatha junction. This affirms the school’s popularity within the community. In view of this and various requests from the community including the royal family of Daban, the school’s authorities have decided to name the school, Maranatha Young Apostles International School (MYAIS). And all the necessary documents to this effect this has been duly applied to the appropriate institutions. The school’s community reflects the diversity of the Ghanaian society, with families of different ethnic and religious background but predominately Christians and low economic background.
Infrastructure
The school can boast of a very large land area (about 10,000m2) which gives us room for future development projects. There are 8 unit classrooms with 3 extra rooms serving as offices and store rooms and a library. The school has a school bus, although it is in a bad state. A newly constructed kitchen and dining facility for the students’ canteen.
The School’s Library
The MYAIS temporary library is well resourced with a variety of books mostly of foreign origin. At this point we will acknowledge The Building Foundation (TBF) for their help in setting up the school’s library. The library has become an integrated part of the school’s academic schedule. Each class at the primary level attends a library session once within the week. The students use the library as an additional learning material to widen their scope of understanding. The library has been mostly beneficial to the teachers who have access to it at anytime and use the various books as reference and teaching materials in their lessons. The communities outside the school have not benefited much from the
library as they should. This is as a result of the fact that, the library is opened only during the school hours. Moreover the books are not lent out to borrowers due to technical reasons hence making the outside community not getting the maximum benefit of the library. Lack of electricity in the school premise makes it impossible to open the library in the evenings.
Teaching and Learning
Maranatha Young Apostles is committed to providing holistic learning and teaching. Our curriculum is set to meet the requirements of the Ghana Education Service (GES). In each classroom, the teacher’s timetable is set according to the GES standards.
In addressing the individual needs of students a variety of structures were provided. An example is the compulsory library section once a week for each class. This allowed the school to support struggling readers whiles providing flexibility to support target students with specific learning needs. The introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to basic primary education by the GES has made the need for utilization of technology to support learning. In view of this, all classrooms should be resourced with electricity, technological hardware including both desktop and notebooks computers as well as interactive whiteboards.
The spiritual growth and welfare of each student, along with sound educational practices are the tenets of holistic education which connects the school’s vision and mission statement. Every Friday morning, the students attend Christian worship services for the first two periods to enhance their spiritual development.
All classes at the primary level were provided with opportunities to enhance learning through excursions. Excursions included a visit to the Kumasi Zoo and natural parks. Opportunities to participate in sport and fitness were provided through our weekly physical education and sports on our large school field. Football matches were occasionally organized between our students and other schools in the community. Opportunities were also given to students to participate in music and drumming.
Achievements
The school made success across all the major areas. MYAIS started enrolling students up to the 5th years as compared to year 4 during the previous academic year and is expected to enroll year 6 students next year 78 fresh students were admitted during the academic year under review. The daily average attendance was improved to 188 daily average attendances as compared to 160 of the previous academic calendar year. These are all symbolizing that the school is growing progressively. The constitution of the school’s board has brought dynamism at the administrative level of the school.
On the infrastructure front, a kitchen with a storeroom and a dining area was constructed to improve the canteen services of the school.
Academically, all the students that took part in the end of year school exams passed and got promoted to a higher class signifying the level of academic excellence. The teaching staff number was increased from five to six. The school also intends to introduce High school education to absorb our students who might be completing year 6 at the end of next academic year. In view of this the school has initiated the necessary documentation process and infrastructural development to facilitate accreditation from the GES. In view of this, the school is constructing additional classroom complex which is almost at the roofing stage.