Founded on 29 September 1961 by the Roman Catholic Church under the leadership of Reverend Anthony Konings, a Dutch missionary who was the bishop of Keta-Akatsi Diocese, in 1977, the school became a government-assisted school, similar to most other Catholic schools in the region.
SMASCO as it is called was to toast of many in the Volta region. By the 1970s it was a school of choice, many young boys longed to attend the school. Indeed, it was an honour to be admitted into SMASCO. 63 years down the line, SMASCO is a pale shadow of its glorious self, its structures is dilapidated and its facilities almost obsolete.
There are many projects that were started but abandoned at various levels of completion. An 18 unit classroom block that was started some 30 years ago is still not completed, the administration block and auditorium that have finally been roofed, but are yet to be completed and handed over for use, there is also a dormitory and a classroom block that have also stalled for many, many years, all efforts to get the contractors back to site have not yielded any results because, they have not been paid.
Situated at a hilly area, erosion has eaten up all the roads on campus because there are no drains and the roads are not tarred; navigation through campus is such a herculean task.
All these debilitating issues have so deeply affected student and teacher moral that, if not attended to, will soon begin to impact performance.
SMASCO was once a beacon of hope, the pride of Lolobi where it is located and considered by many as the citadel of education and academic excellence.
It does come as a great relief when Council of Ewe Association of North America – CEANA -, built and donated a beautiful edifice to the school to be used as a computer laboratory cum library. Students, teachers and administrators alike were most delighted and appreciative of the kind gesture.
According to the president of CEANA Dr. Tsatsu E. Nyamadi, CEANA is an umbrella body, an association of all Ewe groups in north America whose objectives are to support developmental projects in all parts of Africa where there are Ewes. Currently their membership is drawn from Ghana, Togo and Benin.
To qualify as a member of CEANA, you must first belong to an association of Ewes in your local state or community in North America, once you qualify to be a member of your local association, you are automatically a member of the mother group. Membership is not limited to only Ewes but also to those who share the aspiration of Ewes.
Any member of CEANA can simply identify a need in his/her community back at home in Ghana, they write to the association, which does the needs assessment and once the project has merit and falls within the mandate of the association, a decision is taken very quickly and the project is executed.
The representative of CEANA in Ghana, Togbe Agbelom Chief of Salo in the Volta region who doubles as Nana Ofei Asmani, I Nkosuohene of Akwamu Traditional area who handed over the edifice urged Ewes in North America to do all they can to join the association because the more numbers they have, the more projects they can execute since member rely on individual contributions to support developmental projects at home. He laments the poor nature of roads in the area and added his voice to the call for rapid intervention to fix them.
SMASCO currently has a student population of about 800 students minus the 1st years, the number could be higher but many parents are shunning the school due to its poor state. The headmaster of the school Rev. Fr Felix Akpah has expressed his profound gratitude to the CEANA, and used the occasion to plead with the alumni of the school to do more to support their Alma Mater. He has also called on government and state actors to do more for the school.
Source:
https://voltadigest.wordpress.com/2022/03/24/ewes-in-north-america-support-smasco-with-ict-center/
