Ndow’s Comprehensive Senior Secondary School on Friday held graduation, speech and prize-giving ceremony at the school ground in Kanifing.

Speaking at the occasion, Florence Ampong, the principal of the school, said Ndow’s Comprehensive is a dynamic school, moving in the right direction to provide good opportunities for its students, that will prepare them for future challenges in higher education, and subsequently as useful citizens of this country and the world at large.

She added that in pursuit of providing good education for their students, the board of trustees, working closely with the proprietress, leaves no stone unturned in recruiting good teachers for the school.“Education is not a privilege but a right, andNdow’s Comprehensive Senior Secondary School adhere to this axiom,” she said.

For his part, David Haffner, the chairman of the school, told the students that senior secondary school graduation exhibits their ability toovercome the many challenges that might have come their way during the past few years. He advised them to pursue post-secondary school or vocational training following their graduation and applauded them for their foresight and determination.

He noted that the opportunities and challenges ahead demand well-educated minds. Haffner expressed delight to know that the students have had an excellent foundation from Ndow’s Comprehensive School.

The guest speaker of the occasion, Dr. Olumuyiwa Owolabi, said learning is not an event it is a process, noting that the classroom is important, but the fact is that most learning takes place when the tools and techniques discovered in the learning process are applied.

According to him, learning is a process of alignment, assimilation and application;only by completing all three steps of this process can they change behaviour to produce desired results. “In the educational system, teachers and students are divided at the bottom of the ladder and they are alienated from each other by a hierarchy and a curriculum that establishes the teacher’s authority at the expense of the students,” he said.

He added that students are disciplined to adapt to the rules and expectation of their teachers and school administration if they want to succeed.

Dr. Olumuyiwa went on to explain that students learn the ability to rehearse the knowledge teachers are trying to deposit; that itis the surest route to success; jobs, bursaries, scholarships, entrance into professional schools all depend on getting good marks. According to him, within this system, knowledge is thought to be something that you gain and utilize when students are so busy focusing on how to succeed within the banking system, they have little time, energy or skill to ask pertinent questions.