Asumaku Paul, teacher at Suhum MA Experimental C Basic School in the Eastern Region, is giving a new definition to the role of a teacher with his footprints in all the schools he has taught.

As a journalist very much interested in the growth of the education sector, I happened to come across Mr Paul at Suhum somewhere last year when the Rotary Club of East Legon inaugurated an ultra-modern ICT centre for the Suhum MA C Experimental School.

He caught my attention because the ICT Centre was not the usual ones we always see, where old and non-functioning computers are dumped, but this one has brand new computers housed in a very big renovated room, with all the accessories to make learning easy for the students.

I therefore approached Paul for an interview, and my first question to him was what motivated him to spearhead such a project for the school.

His answer was that it has been his philosophy that every administrator is a potential change agent, and by the end of every existing point in the life of a learner, he or she should have a positive change of attitude and be prepared for the unknown future experience.

Born in 1975, Asumaku Paul got his first appointment to teach in the year 1999 at Apedwa MA JHS and made an impact instantly.

Not enthused with the spectre where students who completed Apedwa JHS always trekked to Asafo, a nearby community, for their secondary education, he decided to team up with the Presbyterian Church at Apedwa to get them to establish a secondary school.

Thus, he influenced the establishment of the Apedwa Presbyterian Senior High School and became the Acting headmaster, where he advertised, interviewed and recruited the first teaching and non-teaching staff, and the school has since produced many scholars doing well in their various fields of study and workplaces.

While acting as the headmaster, he was still working fully as the headmaster of the JHS until the SHS was fully set up and he decided to move for another challenge elsewhere.

Paul told me that, even though he relished the work he did at Apedwa, be it at the JHS or the SHS, he accepted to move to the Nkronso MA Basic School at East Akim as head teacher as the school was performing abysmally in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and needed a new direction.

He said, after putting the necessary measures in place, his administration saw Nkronso MA Basic School moving from 39 per cent in BECE to 100 per cent from 2012 to 2018.

“An ultra-modern ICT centre was started and commissioned during my administration with the help of the church of Pentecost, Ghana and in 2019, the Nkronso MA Basic School won the 3rd edition of Hon Kingsley’s Maths and Science Quiz”, he said.

After serving for 21 years at the Apedwa circuit, Mr Paul decided to move to the Suhum district also in the Eastern Region.

“I was sent to Okonam, a community located on the Suhum-Asamankese road.

It was a ZERO percent school for years, but within a year, the school moved from zero percent to 84 percent due to best practices such as engaging all key stakeholders, including introducing the first camping for the final year students in the community, as well as motivating teachers and learners.

He also introduced the Blue Sky school farm project, the first ever in the Suhum district, and now a lot of schools are benefiting from the initiative.

Mr Paul is currently the headmaster of the Suhum MA Experimental 'C' Basic School after spending just a year in Okonam, and he is also making waves over there.

Thus, within the first term after his appointment, he constructed very beautiful flower beds in front of all the classrooms, adding value to the learning environment.

He has also facilitated the completion and commissioning of an ultra-modern ICT centre sponsored by the Rotary Club of Accra East.

He has also introduced evening preps for all the final-year learners, which are currently ongoing.

Through the exploits of Mr Paul, the Suhum MA Experimental 'C' Basic School is engaging Kansas State University of Education in STEAM VIRTUAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMME with 50 learners.

Awards 

Under his leadership, the Suhum MA Experimental 'C' Basic School has received several academic awards, including three presidential awards.

As champions two consecutive times, the Suhum MA Experimental 'C' Basic is currently in the final competition of the ADVAG quiz competition, which they have already won twice under the guidance of Paul.

Impact on learners 

Paul has also been a source of support for his students as he identifies brilliant but needy learners to fulfil their dreams by linking them to the available resources within and outside the school community.

Health 

Paul has not only played the role of a teacher but also a fatherly role to all his students. At Okonam, for instance, he identified a girl who was dying as a result of breast-related disease and managed to link the family to PEACE AND LOVE HOSPITAL, KUMASI, where Breast Care International is located.

She was treated free and discharged. She has completed school successfully.

A boy in my present school was also identified with breasts like a woman. I supported the family to get the boy operated without a cost from the same facility, and now a proud candidate yet to write his BECE”, he said. 

“My attention was drawn to an old student who had aggregate 14 with the dream of becoming a doctor, but got blind as a result of a brain tumour. I linked him through the media space and raised an amount of one hundred thousand Ghana cedis to cover all his medical bills at Korle-Bu.

His operation was successful, and currently recovering with the hope to pursue his dream”, he added.

He said, currently, a girl in Suhum Presbyterian Senior High School with severe eye problems has been identified and plans to remedy the situation.

Sports 

As the current sports chairman of the Suhum North Circuit, Paul has for the first time spearheaded the opening of an account for the purpose of transparency and financial discipline.

Sponsors were brought onboard to make last year's competition a memorable event, and quality sportsmen and women were identified for Mother Ghana in the near future.

Community service 

Paul is a member of the Concerned Citizens of Atewa Landscape (CCAL), an NGO advocating for a stop to all illegal mining (galamsey), which is destroying our forest and water bodies with highly destructive consequences on humans, especially school-going children.

With the help of other members of CCAL, the group has held a series of press conferences, seminars and protests to demand an immediate stop to galamsey in the country, especially in the Atewa enclave.

To Paul, a healthy environment determines healthy academic progress.

It is my hope that other teachers will emulate the good works of Paul Asumaku and that the government of Ghana and the Ghana Education Service, Paul deserves a national honour to encourage other teachers to do the same for their schools.

By Yaw Bibinii