Accra Academy was my last "educational stop" in Africa, and probably the most interesting. I was there from 1973 to 1975, going through Lower and Upper sixth forms, culminating in 'A' levels.

Upper 6th Science field trip, sometime in 1975.

Some of the following might sound odd and rather negative, but the intention is not to detract from the reputation of Accra Academy, simply to give my impressions in the mid-Seventies when I was there.

I remember arriving at the place for the first time and seeing some "juniors" standing in the courtyard in odd poses as a punishment for some misbehaviour or other...

We had some good teachers there and others not so good. Or perhaps they were not motivated. Anyway at the time there was a lot of teacher absenteeism. I still have a diary from those days, many entries are simply "no classes". With hindsight this may have been a partly financial problem; it was said that at least one of our teachers had been seen giving classes at another secondary school down the road.

We were short of funds, textbooks, basic materials, science equipment. We had a lab assistant who, we were sure, was stealing some of the equipment to sell to finance his European holiday. Yet an atmosphere of enthusiasm prevailed. We were well provided for compared to some of the other secondary schools we knew about.

to be continued

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