A young man from Wassa Amenfi West sets a record in Ghana’s Education. His story melts hearts

 

 

A young man from Asankran Breman called Rockson Oppong who lived most of his life at Asankran Oda in the Wassa Amenfi West Municipality of the Western Region has shared the ordeal he went through to set a remarkable record in Ghana’s Education.

According to Rockson Oppong, he thought all hopes were lost because he had stayed home for too long. After completing Drobo Senior High School in 2012, he stayed at home for 6 years before going to the College of Education. The opportunity came as a mystery.

Rockson Oppong said it was in April 2017 that he left Accra for Asankran Oda.

He left upon the incessant pressure from his late mom.
He left Accra sad and empty. But while on the bus, this echoed in his mind. ” Man has to reject you for God to accept you.” That gave him hope!

He got to Asankran Breman on Thursday, 19th April 2017.
There was a youth programme ongoing. He never knew. And there was a quiz competition as part of the programme.
So his senior at JHS, Emmanuel Amoako notified him about it and he was told to represent Asankran Oda zone.

Initially, he didn’t want to.
But the ladies, particularly, Madam Justina Buah and Francisca Amoako, insisted that he did it.
He did it and they won! He represented Breman District at Asankrangwa and Breman won.

He represented Asankrangwa at Takoradi and for the first time, the Asankrangwa Area of the Church of Pentecost won the regional youth quiz competition.

Fast forward, Pastor Arizie and Rev. Godlove Opoku(Founder of Revival Palace International) asked why he had stayed so long at home.
They promised to help him, through the Asankrangwa Area Scholarship Scheme.

So in 2018, he bought only the Enchi College of Education form. That was because he saw himself being a student there in a dream.
The admission was out but he didn’t get the opportunity. So strange!
But finally, he had it with the intervention of Nanabenyin Franklin and Pastor Arizie, who was then the District Pastor at Enchi Adumline District of The COP.

But something popped up! Based on his WASSCE results, the leadership wanted him to go to university instead.
But all admissions were closed. Finally, they spoke to the rector of Pentecost University and asked him to join the university.
In fact, he didn’t like the idea. But he was silent, just praying for God’s will to be done.

Indeed he went to Pentecost University and he was given B.com. He joined the orientation session and filled out every form that was needed. His picture was taken for his student ID.

Upon his return from Accra, the Area Head, Apostle Robert Christian Ackon sat down with the Area Deacon and the accountant (Elder Effah Kyei) and the Area Deacon suggested that Rockson goes to the College of Education instead.

So the Area Deacon called one of the tutors at the college and they were told that he had forfeited the admission since he couldn’t meet the deadline for the payment of the admission fee.
They pleaded and he was admitted.

“I must say that Pastor Richard Yaw Boachie who was the then Area Secretary and District Pastor for Asankran Breman District played a key role in the process”, he added.

COLLEGE EXPERIENCES

Rockson started in October 2018 and completed in October 2022. According to him, he was sad when he got to Enchi College of Education. He didn’t like the environment. But was determined to make progress because he knew that everything depended on him and his hope in God to walk him through the jungle of failure, disappointment, and poverty.

Within the first week, Rockson had a crisis… sickle cell crisis. And he doubted if he could complete it peacefully.

Rockson says the weather wasn’t favourable at all. He was admitted to Enchi Government Hospital for four days. Pastor Arizie and Mama Gifty Arizie took him home when he was discharged.
They really helped him.
Two things endeared him to many people on campus: Bible recitations and participation in quizzes.

The first quiz he did was an inter-hall quiz organized by the Ghana National Association of Teachers in 2019. His hall won. He was part of the contestants.
They represented the college at Holy Child College of Education in Takoradi, and they won. That was the zonal level.

The competition ended there because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rockson also represented the college in the 2022 Select & Groom Future Leaders Quiz for the Colleges in Western, Western North, and Central Regions at OLA CoE in Cape Coast.

There was a debate in 2022 organized by the Insurance Awareness Creation Group (IACG) dubbed “The National Insurance Debate”. He represented the college together with Joshua Nyarko (The General Secretary Elect, TTAG-WEC Sector) at the School of Medical Sciences Auditorium, University of Cape Coast. To Rockson, it was a great experience.

 

Leadership Profile

Rockson was appointed Students’ Chaplain in 2019. And he headed the Chaplaincy Board for two years (2019 to 2021).

At PENSA, he worked as the Bible Studies Coordinator for two years (2019 to 2021).
In Scripture Union, he was in charge of Bible Studies. So, he worked as the Bible Studies Coordinator for SU from 2019 to 2021.

Rockson was a key player in the establishment of the Wassa Students Union at Enchi College of Education. And he worked as the first General Secretary from June 2021 to October 2022.

Academic work!

Rockson said he suffered on campus. He didn’t really study much because his health didn’t give him the opportunity. But Rockson knew how to study. And so, very soon, a book that he has written will be out to help students to excel academically.

Rockson said he had two issues. Sickle disease and pulmonary hypertension. He wrote five of the nine courses during the first semester of the first year in an unhealthy state. He was really ill. In fact, he was scared! But when the results were released by UCC, he had an ‘A’ in six out of the nine courses they wrote. This earned him “The Overall Best Student of the year (Level 100s)” during the 2019 SRC week celebration.

The drugs he was taking were hurting him. But he had to take them to live. He couldn’t attend lectures whenever it rained or whenever the weather became cold.
He couldn’t attend most of the lectures at dawn.

Rockson said five things helped him to get first class, a CGPA of 3.8161 at the end of the four-year journey.

First, he loved the course he was pursuing (Bachelor of Education in Social Studies and Religious and Moral Education).

Secondly, he had a disciplined lifestyle. He did the same things every day. He didn’t just do things anyhow.
Added to this, He had a study group. The majority of the members were ladies–serious ladies. And as he taught them, he became a better person.

Again, he knew how to learn. Many students love to learn but they don’t know how, hence, they don’t do well academically. After he had an ‘A’ in six courses out of the nine in his first year, he said to himself that he would never get below six ‘As’ in the subsequent semesters. And even if he gets below, he will make sure his CGPA doesn’t dwindle.
The leadership roles were taking most of his time. He was also involved in the Church of Pentecost yearly youth quiz. He never stopped doing it because it was through the quiz that he had an educational scholarship from the church.

Finally, he told God to make him successful so that people will not look down on those born with chronic diseases. And to make people believe that though the Chaplain does get sick, he can do well academically. This will make him able to influence the students positively. The God factor can’t be out whenever he shares his story. God being so good, Rockson had first class at Enchi College of Education with a CGPA of 3.8161.

He has set the record as the first person with sickle cell and pulmonary hypertension disease to be the Chaplain of a teacher training College of Education, win a lot of quiz competitions and also get a first class.

In a nutshell, Rockson said, if he had not come to Breman in April that year, he would have missed that opportunity of going to school–a tertiary institution.

He survived by God’s grace and the friends he had in college. They supported him financially.

Source: pazionmedia.com