Grandpa's Dream Comes True-Graduates at 83

04-05-08
Front page

A Ghanaian octogenarian has set an unusual standard for adult education by graduating from the University of Cape Coast (UCC) at the age of 83.
John Harry Johnson, whose 84th birthday falls today, April 5, 2008, had completed a three-year diploma programme in Basic Education.
A father of six, with 13 grandchildren and five great grandchildren, Mr Johnson studied Mathematics, Guidance and Counselling, Basic Philosophy and Science, specialising in Mathematics.
Before enrolling at the UCC in the 2004/2005 academic year, Mr Johnson had pursued programmes in Mathematics at the University of Bucharest in Romania, the Reading University in London and the University of Cambridge.
A product of St Augustine’s College in Cape Coast in the Central Region, Mr Johnson, who is teaching at the Jubilee School in Cape Coast, told the Daily Graphic in Accra that there was the need to tell his success story to prove a point that old age did not mean inability.
For him, there was the need to give credence to the fact that there was no end or age limit to studying, saying that it all depended on the individual’s ability to continue studying.
Nobody, he said, had followed up on his studies at the university since it was first reported that he had enrolled there to pursue a programme, hence the need for him to tell his story after completing the course.
According to him, sitting in class with people who could be his grandchildren had not meant much to him.
“I was determined to do the course,” he said, and advised the youth to take their studies seriously.
Given his passion for teaching, Mr Johnson said he decided to pursue the course at the UCC to enable him to understand the current syllabus being used at the basic educational level.
“I now have a full spectrum of the system, from kindergarten to pre-university,” he noted.
He stressed the need for the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports to come out with a policy on the re-engagement of retired teachers to fill the vacancies that existed in basic and second-cycle schools, since there were educationists who were physically fit to continue to impart knowledge to the young ones.
“As long as you are physically fit, you should be allowed to work. Age has nothing to do with the ability to teach. You need not be given a fat salary; only allowances that will make you viable,” he emphasised.
Mr Johnson said when recruiting retired persons to teach, age should not be looked at, only the expertise and intelligent quotient (IQ) of the person being recruited.
Speaking with passion, he said, “I enjoy teaching, since its a joy to teach,” and indicated that he taught children in his area for free.
He taught for 16 years at St Augustine’s College and 10 years at Mfantsipim School. He said he had taught a number of prominent Ghanaians, including a former Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, and the current Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah.
He expressed his displeasure at the way he was retired at 55 in 1979 when the retirement age was increased to 60 in the same year, adding that the educational authorities failed to re-engage him.
Mr Johnson said he had to go to Nigeria to teach for some years, after which he returned to Ghana to be re-engaged. When he returned, he went to teach at St Augustine’s College from 1988-1990; the School for the Deaf, 1991-1993, and the Montessori Junior High School, 1994-1995.
He was the Headmaster of the Albert Sam Junior High School in 1996 and taught at the Hanover Park Primary School, the Tuwofu International School and the Golden Treasure Primary School.
Born on April 5, 1924 to Madam Ekua Akowa and Mr William Johnson, Mr Johnson is married to Mrs Charlotte Johnson.
He attended the Government Boys’ School in Cape Coast, St Augustine’s College, the Winneba Specialist Training College, among other institutions.