Odumase campus (1938–1968)
ɔdadeɛ” (baobab tree)
The school was started in Odumase after a Ghanaian educationist of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, E. A. W. Engmann, continued to lobby and push for the establishment of a church boys’ school.[9] This came to fruition in 1938 with the first group of 16 boys and four teachers. Rev. Engmann was the first headmaster.
The Odumase campus housed German missionaries, then a primary school and then a government survey school before becoming the Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School.
One of the traditions of the school is the “ɔdadeɛ” (baobab tree) located on the campus. An alumnus of the school is referred to as “Ɔdadeɛ”.[8] The baobab tree is a Ghanaian symbol of knowledge, resourcefulness and strength. New students were traditionally initiated at the feet of this tree clad in bedsheets and powdered faces. PRESEC was located here until 1968 when it was moved to its current location at Legon, Mile 9.
Legon campus (1968 to date)
In September 1968, the new campus at Legon just north east of the University of Ghana campus at Mile 9, received its first set of students.[10] At the new campus, it continued as a boys’ boarding secondary school until the mid-1970s when the sixth form was upgraded to the National Science College. Female students were admitted into the sixth form in small numbers from September 1975. They continued to be part of the student body until June 1996 when the last batch left.[11]
The Legon campus started with four student boarding houses. Three were named after notable Presbyterian leaders as Kwansa House, Clerk House and Engmann House. The fourth was named Akro House after the people of Krobo Odumase. The next two houses to be built were Riis House and Labone House. With the completion of the National Science College buildings, Ako-Adjei House and Owusu-Parry House were added (the latter named after the first Senior Prefect). Another house, House 9, admitted its first residents in September 2010 as well as a new house, House 10.
Achievements
1990s
- PRESEC regularly had one of the best GCE O-level and A-level results prior to the change of the national examination system to BECE and WASSCE.[14]
- In 1995 the school won the second edition of the Ghana National Science and Maths Quiz competition. PRESEC Southern Sector Champions, defeated Opoku Ware School, Northern Sector Champion in the Final of Finals.[15]
- In 1999, the school won four of the seven WAEC (West African Examinations Council) awards for the best individual performances in the final examinations for over 500 secondary schools.[16]
2000s
- In 2002, at the National Constitution Quiz organized by the National Commission for Civic Education, PRESEC Civic Education Club emerged victoriously.[17]
- In 2003, PRESEC repeated the feat of 1995 by defeating Opoku Ware School in the National Science and Maths Quiz competition. A student went on to win the overall best performance in the WAEC (West African Examinations Council) SSSCE examinations that year.[18]
- On 1 July 2006 the school win the National Science and Maths Quiz for a third time. The school was given the competition trophy for keeps. PRESEC defeated St. Peter’s Secondary School, then defending champions, in the final.[19]
- On 16 June 2008, emerged wiiners of the National Title of NIIT ICT Expert 2008 in Kumasi. PRESEC, emerged the champions beating the regional champions: St. James Seminary SHS, Sunyani (Brong-Ahafo), Opoku Ware School, Kumasi (Ashanti Region), St. Augustine’s College, Cape Coast (Central Region) and Baidoo Bonsoe SHS, Takoradi (Western Region) with 78 schools competing also at the regional levels.[20]
- On 8 July 2008, PRESEC won the National Science and Math Quiz for a fourth time. The school defeated Opoku Ware School in the final. This was the third time PRESEC had defeated Opoku Ware in the final.[21]
- On 24 June 2009, not only did PRESEC win the quiz competition for the fifth time, but they also became the first school ever to successfully defend their title as National Champions. PRESEC defeated Achimota School in the final.[21]
2010s
- In 2010, two students represented Ghana and won a bronze medal in the International Junior Science Olympiad, out of 35 countries across the world.[22]
- In 2010, a student was honoured at the WASSCE 2009 Excellence Awards Ceremony, as Best Candidate in the General Science Program, the National Best Candidate and then the Overall Best Candidate in West Africa; and a student was Overall Best in the Business Program.[23]
- On 13 May 2011, the school won the VRA 50th Anniversary Inter-Schools Debate Competition beating Mfantsipim School in the finals of the competition.[24]
- September 2011, the school won the Sprite Ball Inter-Schools Basketball Championship, defeating defending champions, Achimota School 10-8 in the finals.[25]
- On 2 September 2011, the school won the maiden edition of the Coke Hit Single. The competition featured musical talents from 32 senior high schools who vied for the ultimate title of “Coke Hit Single” – Best high school musical talents in Ghana.[20]
- In March 2013, during the WASSCE 2012 Excellence Awards, a student was judged the Overall Best Candidate in the General Arts Program in the West African Examinations Council’s examinations (West African Examinations Council) conducted throughout the West African sub-region; in a year where the Council recorded its highest number ‘ever’ of candidates meeting its minimum eligibility criterion for the excellence awards, that is 8 grade A1s – (530 candidates out of the total 174,385 candidates who sat for the May/June WASSCE in 2012).[20]
- 2016 – The Speaker of Parliament of Ghana, Aaron Mike Ocquaye (class of 1962), as well as 15 members of Parliament were old students of the school.
2020s
- On 8 October 2020, the school won the National Maths and Science Quiz contest for the sixth time by beating Adisadel College and Opoku Ware Senior High School in the finals.[26]
- On 13 May 2020 the school won The Sharks Quiz contest which was against Mawuli Senior High School.
Notable alumni:
Politics, government, and public policy
Lt. Gen. F. W. K. Akuffo – Head of State of Ghana (5 July 1978 – 4 June 1979)
Michael Paul Ansah – Minister of State in the third republic
Theodore Obo Asare Jnr – Economist and Member of Parliament for Akan Bowiri in the first republic
Mark Assibey-Yeboah – Economist and Member of Parliament for New Juaben South 6th and 7th parliament, Chairman of the 7th Parliament’s Finance Committee
Kwaku Boateng – Minister of Education and Minister of Interior in the first republic
Kwesi Botchwey – Ghana’s longest-serving Minister of Finance (1982–1995), Chairman of Ghana National Gas Development Task Force
Fuseini Issah – Member of Parliament – Okaikwei North since January 2017
Aaron Mike Oquaye – Speaker of the 7th Parliament of the 4th Republic (2017–2021), former Minister of Communication (2005–2009)
Mike Oquaye Jnr – Diplomat
Kofi Portuphy – former National Coordinator, National Disaster Management Organization and former National Chairman-National Democratic Congress
Erasmus Isaac Preko – Member of parliament during the first republic, Minister of Fuel and Power (1965 – 1966)
Andrews Kwabla Puplampu – Minister for Lands (1965 – 1966)
Bright Simons – IMANI Ghana and 2012 World Economic Forum (WEF), Young Global Leader (YGL)
Alex Tettey-Enyo – former Minister of Education
Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus Glover – Member of Parliament for Tema East since 2013
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa – Member of Parliament – North Tongu, former Deputy Minister of Education (2013–2016)
Benard Oko-Boye-Member of Parliament – Ledzokuku Constituency in the Greater Accra Region, Deputy Minister of Health
Ato Ulzen-Appiah – Director of the GhanaThink Foundation and named amongst most influential young Africans
Eugene Arhin- Director of Communications at the Presidency (2017-)
Academia
Kwabena Boahen – Professor of Bioengineering and Neuromorphic Engineering, Stanford University
Ernest Aryeetey – Vice-Chancellor of University of Ghana – Legon (2010–2016)
- Bamfo-Kwakye – Vice-Chancellor of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) (1974–1983)
George C. Clerk – pioneering Ghanaian botanist and phytopathologist
Nicholas T. Clerk – Ghanaian academic, administrator and Presbyterian minister, former Rector of GIMPA
John Owusu Gyapong, vice chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences
Eric Yirenkyi Danquah – Founding Director of West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) and winner of the World Agriculture Prize (WAP)
Arts and entertainment
Augustine Abbey (Idikoko) – owner of Great Idikoko Ventures and President of Film Producers Association of Ghana
John Apea – Actor and movie director
Kwaku Sintim-Misa – Ghanaian actor, political satirist, and host of Thank God it’s Friday
Kwasi Kyei Darwkah – Ghanaian broadcaster and master of ceremonies
Dancegod Lloyd – Ghanaian dancer and choreographer.
Sports
Ezekiel Ansah – American football defensive end
Reuben Ayarna – Footballer, Defensive Midfielder for the Kuopion Palloseura in Finland
Benjamin Azamati-Kwaku – Member of the Ghana 4×100 relay team and International Champion[30]
Isaac Kissi – footballer
Andrew Owusu – international triple jump champion[31]
Corporate, business, and finance
Jonathan Herbert Frimpong-Ansah – former Governor of the Bank of Ghana[32]
Lucy Quist – first Ghanaian woman to become the CEO of a multinational telecommunications company in Ghana
Patricia Obo-Nai – CEO Vodafone Ghana
Kris Senanu – Ghanaian Kenyan Business Executive
Law
Nene Amegatcher – active Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana (2018–)
Kofi Barnes – Judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Canada
Benjamin Kwakye – Harvard Law School graduate, author, lawyer and winner of the 2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Africa Region)
Music
Victor Kofi Agawu – Professor of Music, Princeton University
Elom Adablah – also known as EL, rapper, and musician (Artiste of the Year at the 2015/2016 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards)
Hammer of The Last Two – producer and sound engineer
Ball J – sound engineer and record producer
Jayso – Ghanaian rapper and record producer
Choirmaster – member of ‘Praye’ music group
Journalism
Bernard Avle – Ghanaian media personality and broadcast journalist
Emmanuel Agbeko Gamor – journalist
Gary Al-Smith – Sports Journalist
Louis Kwame Sakyiamah (Lexis Bill) – Ghanaian media personality
