A brazen idea
Having girls learning side-by-side with boys was a brazen idea. But all three idealistic founders had
strong reformist tendencies, and they were determined to create a school that would be a model for all
of West Africa—a school that would educate Ghanaian boys and girls so well that they would be
completely at ease in both traditional culture and western settings.
Their vision was to produce a class of intellectually bi-cultural leaders whose training would enable them
to act as interpreters and brokers for European and African ideas, fully able to take over their country’s
government when the time inevitably came for the British to leave. Ahead of its time, the idea was
simultaneously idealistic and radical. It was from this vision of synthesis that the famous piano-key
design of the Achimota school crest emerged.
Said Aggrey at the time, “You can play a tune of sorts on the black keys only; and you can play a tune
of sorts on the white keys only; but for perfect harmony, you must use both the black and the white
keys.”
For decades, promising students from other African countries came to Ghana to attend Achimota
School—including Sir Dauda Jawara, the first president of The Gambia.
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology which originated from Achimota College’s
Engineering School is named for a graduate of Achimota, Ghana’s first president.
The University College of the Gold Coast now known as the University of Ghana originated from
Achimota College. The University of Ghana holds its annual Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial
Lecture Series to honor the founders’ contributions to Ghanaian education.
Achimota Today
cross-currents, making air-conditioning unnecessary and is similar to the open Chapel at Trinity
College, Kandy, Sri Lanka, where Rev. Fraser served as Principal from 1904 to 1924.
Located within the campus are the Achimota Primary School, the Achimota Golf Course, and the 45-bed
Achimota Hospital that is now managed by the government and serves the School and the surrounding
community.
Having girls learning side-by-side with boys was a brazen idea. But all three idealistic founders had
strong reformist tendencies, and they were determined to create a school that would be a model for all
of West Africa—a school that would educate Ghanaian boys and girls so well that they would be
completely at ease in both traditional culture and western settings.
Their vision was to produce a class of intellectually bi-cultural leaders whose training would enable them
to act as interpreters and brokers for European and African ideas, fully able to take over their country’s
government when the time inevitably came for the British to leave. Ahead of its time, the idea was
simultaneously idealistic and radical. It was from this vision of synthesis that the famous piano-key
design of the Achimota school crest emerged.
Said Aggrey at the time, “You can play a tune of sorts on the black keys only; and you can play a tune
of sorts on the white keys only; but for perfect harmony, you must use both the black and the white
keys.”
For decades, promising students from other African countries came to Ghana to attend Achimota
School—including Sir Dauda Jawara, the first president of The Gambia.
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology which originated from Achimota College’s
Engineering School is named for a graduate of Achimota, Ghana’s first president.
The University College of the Gold Coast now known as the University of Ghana originated from
Achimota College. The University of Ghana holds its annual Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial
Lecture Series to honor the founders’ contributions to Ghanaian education.
Achimota Today
- Achimota currently has about
1,600 students, almost evenly
gender-balanced, up from about
1100 in the 1970s. It has 82
academic staff members who
teach subjects ranging from
Computer Science to Agriculture.
With its well laid-out grounds and
about 4.4 miles of private roads,
Achimota’s 1300-acre campus,
surrounded by a forest reserve,
features several architecturally
interesting colonial-era buildings
from the 1920s and 1930s. There
are 14 residential houses, two
dining halls, a student clinic, a
post office,two gyms, extensive
playing fields, an arboretum, a
swimming pool, a cricket oval,
and basketball, tennis and squash
courts.
cross-currents, making air-conditioning unnecessary and is similar to the open Chapel at Trinity
College, Kandy, Sri Lanka, where Rev. Fraser served as Principal from 1904 to 1924.
Located within the campus are the Achimota Primary School, the Achimota Golf Course, and the 45-bed
Achimota Hospital that is now managed by the government and serves the School and the surrounding
community.
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| View of Achimota School Administration Block showing the historic clock tower. Picture taken by Suzette Ayensu. |