Professor of Political Science at the University of Ghana, Ransford Gyampo, says he was promoted from Primary 1 to Primary 3 during his basic education at Roman Catholic School in the Central Region.
In a conversation with Joy Learning’s Irene Adubea Aning on Joy Prime’s The Career Trail, he shared that although he was an exceptionally brilliant student, he was moved a year ahead of his colleagues because he could sing a song the headmaster had taught the class.
“One day, when I was in class one, our teacher didn’t come to school. And you know children. When there is no teacher, they tend to talk and make noise. So the headmaster at the time, Master Sam, came to the class that day to engage us. He said he was going to teach us some music.
“After teaching the song, he told us if anyone could sing the song, he was going to promote them to class three. So I raised my hand, and then I sang it. He took me to class three and asked me to sing before the whole class, which I did. Afterward, he assigned them to give me a table and chair there”, he said.
The Political Science lecturer further said this move, although impressive, proved to be quite arduous for him due to the fact that he was younger than his classmate and very smallish.
“My mates were always not happy with me because I was the tiniest among them. They did not understand why they struggled to get there and all I did was just sing. When they conducted exams that term, I placed fourth in the class,” he added.
Upon completing class three, he moved from the Central Region to the Greater Accra Region to continue his education.
He explained that at his new school, Calvary International School in the city center, the teacher initially wanted to place him in primary three because of his age. However, his mother vouched that he was capable and should be in primary four.
However, after that term's examination, he did not perform as his mother had expected, and she was therefore very disappointed.
"Although there were obvious questions about my appropriateness for class four because of my age, she avouched my capabilities as very suitable for the class. So they sent me to class four, and when the first set of exams was conducted, I placed 50th in a class of 63. My mother was so disappointed that she asked to have me sent back to class three,” he said.
The Founding Director of the Center for European Studies at the University of Ghana further asserted that now in class three of his new school, he was constantly among the first ten to fifteen whenever exams were conducted.
This Saturday, July 6, we will introduce the second part of the conversation with Prof Ransford Edward Van Gyampo, diving into his life as a lecturer and an entrepreneur.
The Career Trail airs every Saturday, on Joy Learning TV @4pm and on Joy News @ 6:30pm.
Credit: Comfort Ann Tettey-Tawiah