Dr. Rosina Acheampong started her elementary education in Pepease on the Kwaku Plateau and entered Wesley Girls’ High School in 1954. She was elected Senior Prefect of the school when she was in Form Five and set a record by holding the position for three consecutive years; in Form Five, Lower Sixth, and Upper Sixth. With her classmates, they were pioneers in the Sixth Form course in Wesley Girls’ High School and they laid the solid foundation of academic excellence which has become the hallmark of WGHS.
She graduated from the University of Ghana, Legon with BA honors degree in French and pursued her professional course (PGCE) at the University of Cape Coast.
She commenced her teaching career in 1965 which spanned a period of 34 years when she taught French Language and Literature in schools that catered for either single sex or co-ed students in various parts of Ghana: St. Monica’s Secondary School, Mampong Ashanti Region; Prempeh College, Kumasi Ashanti Region; Tamale Secondary School, Northern Region; University Practice Secondary School, Cape Coast and Wesley Girls’ High School, both in Cape Coast, Central Region.
She served as Head of the French Departments in all the schools above and as Assistant Headmistress in Tamale Secondary School, University Practice Secondary School and Wesley Girls’ High School.
In 1981, after three years as the Assistant Headmistress of WGHS, she took over the reins as Headmistress and became the first Old Girl, non-missionary Ghanaian Headmistress of the school.
After sixteen years as Headmistress of WGHS, she was promoted to Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education service (GES), becoming the first woman to hold this position. She also acted as Director-General.
As Deputy Director-General and as Acting Director-General, she was in charge of the National Education Budget Pre-tertiary. In this capacity she led a delegation to the UK to negotiate for funds to support the first strategic plan for interventions to improve the quality of education in Ghana.
During her time at the GES, she also implemented the genesis of the decentralization of the education delivery in Ghana.
Under her watch, the decentralization structures were put in place and the District Directors of Education (DDEs) were trained and empowered to promote management efficiency. Workshops were organised for district staff to equip them with skills, to educate communities in their responsibilities as stake holders in education.
District Education Oversight Committees (DEOCs) were formed and School Management Committees (SMCs) were introduced. She travelled the length and breadth of the nation to monitor the progress of the decentralization process. She also set up the Implementation Co-ordination Unit at GES Headquarters to reduce duplication and fragmentation of intervention strategies being offered by development partners.
Upon her retirement, she was appointed by GES as a decentralization support and consultant to ensure continuity and sustain momentum and to help entrench the numerous initiatives she had presided over.
In retirement and as support and consultant to DFID/MOE (Department For International Development/Ministry Of Education) she travelled from Cape Coast to Tumu, from Keta to Wiawso to visit schools in remote areas, to monitor grassroots participation and to support Head Teachers and teachers in supervision and monitoring of instruction.
An inevitable consequence of her participation in education has been the opportunity to address issues of gender inequalities in education and society at large. As a gender consultant and a member of FAWE International (Forum for Women Education) and FAWE Ghana Chapter, she has participated in numerous workshops to plan advocacy strategies to protect and empower the girl child.
She organised workshops to educate girls on maturation and how it affects their bodies and habits. She embarked on research into the role menstruation plays in the drop-out rate in girls and how maturation affects their enrollment and persistence.
Workshops, seminars, talks and school visits were organised to sensitise school authorities, housemistresses, teachers and students – especially boys – to raise their awareness of the plight of the girl child.
Dr. Acheampong seeks to rally support of all concerned for the girl child to make the school environment girl friendly, to help the girls to be focused. Through mentoring, she and her team helped raise the self esteem of the girl child to maximise opportunities offered them.
She and her team visited schools in the most remote areas of the country to monitor the progress of beneficiaries of the scholarship scheme for needy girls, funded by the American Embassy and administered by the Peace Corps and FAWE Ghana Chapter.
For Dr. Rosina Acheampong, education is a life-long preoccupation and education of the girl child is a passion.
When she retired in 1999, the University of Ghana, Legon, awarded her LLB (Honoris Causa) in recognition of her immense contribution to secondary school education in general and girls education in particular.
“As a teacher, as Headmistress, as a school Administrator and manager she has touched many lives, she has made many great and has produced many prominent women and men.”
Indeed, Dr. Acheampong‘s achievements chronicles the journey of a nation from Gold Coast to Ghana as well as representing a period of huge changes in social norms, values and attitudes, that has brought great benefits as well as challenges. In all of this she has not been only a witness but a moderator to navigate young minds towards becoming responsible human citizens, for that her endeavors are worthy of study.
In her retirement Dr. Acheampong spends her time baby-sitting her grandchildren and globe-trotting. Her favorite hobbies are dress-making, experimenting with recipes and cooking; she also enjoys reading and music.
She has a son and two daughters and four adorable grandchildren.
by Rebecca Ofori
A legend of legends.