Accra, June 16, GNA – The African Science Academy (ASA), an all-girls advanced-level school specialising in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), has celebrated the graduation of its ninth cohort in Accra.
This year’s ceremony honoured 50 outstanding students from 13 African countries who completed their studies in 2025.
The graduating class included students from Lesotho, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Rwanda, Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Togo, Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon and Ghana, the host country.
Founded in 2016 by the African Gifted Foundation, ASA is a premier boarding school dedicated to nurturing young African women with exceptional potential in STEM by providing rigorous training to prepare them for leadership roles in scientific research and innovation.
Dr. Tom Ilube, Chair of the African Gifted Foundation and Founder of ASA, CBE urged them to spearhead scientific advancements across the continent as Africa’s future depends on their brilliance and determination to maximise its resources and alleviate poverty.
“You have no idea what you can achieve until you step into this sort of opportunity and unleash your ability, and you can make small changes that will have a ripple effect across Africa and the world. Be good ambassadors, innovators, and create a change in whichever field you find yourself,” he urged.
He reiterated that the Africa Science Academy is committed to developing young girls academically, as well as their confidence and brilliance, to become powerful young women who will shape society.
Madam Harriet Thompson, the outgoing British High Commissioner to Ghana, commended the young girls for their display of brilliance and ability to learn the complex and difficult things in a male-dominated field.
With Africa estimated to need about two million STEM professionals to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the British High Commissioner urged them to capitalize on the opportunity offered to innovate and be changemakers in that space.
Ms Gifty Ghansah, Head Teacher of ASA, shared her experience, highlighting milestones on the dream that started nine years ago with just 25 girls, but has doubled this year.
She expressed the hope to double this year’s figure soon when it relocated to its new campus, which is under construction in the Eastern Region.
She said every cohort was unique; however, the 2025-year group dubbed the ‘Bellaatrix’ was extremely special, especially the students’ level of curiosity and ability to be challenged and stretched beyond what they were taught.
“And so, we want to focus our attention on showing that we continue to empower young females to balance that kind of male-female ratio within the area of STEM,” she said.
In terms of student recruitment and admissions, ASA goes through a very rigorous process, in about five stages, to reach a final decision on the girls.
The process commences in October of the previous year and finishes in May.
Stage one, call for volunteers, school visitations, assemblies, and so on, while stage two, the application is launched. Stage three deals with shortlisting and the invitation of those successful in the first round.
At the fourth stage, a very comprehensive entrance examination is conducted in the field of Maths, Physics, and English language, and then those who meet the threshold for the past rate are shortlisted for the next stage.
These selected ones then move to the fifth stage, where they are invited for interviews -an in-person interview at the school or a virtual interview conducted. And then the process continues.
“And so, the process is rigorous. After all these stages I have mentioned, if we then think we want to do home visitation, we follow up, just to double-check, because we’re looking for high-achieving low-income background students,” Ms. Ghansah said.
ln addition to STEM, the school runs extra-curricular activities in robotics and computer programming. The students are then tasked to use their knowledge in these fields to develop real-life solutions for society.
The 2025 cohort launched two innovative and transformative programmes; one of the two, branded as the ‘Farmer Aid’, was programmed to aid farmers in animal farming, checking on the health of their animals regularly with sensors fixed to the entrances of the ranch.
“The system checks which animal is healthy and which is not any time they pass through the programmed gates. So, when the gate shuts, then you know it’s a trigger to know that there’s an issue with these sets.
The Head Teacher emphasised that the school had a very structured alumni system that enabled management to follow through on where each of their girls is furthering their education and what challenges they face.
The ceremony witnessed some alumni share goodwill messages with the girls from their campuses across the world, including campuses like Columbia University, Hong Kong, Ashesi, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), among others.
GNA
Edited by Christian Akorlie
Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Syndigate.info
).
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