History of Akosombo International School

Akosombo International School was established in 1962 to provide educational facilities at the Kindergarten and Primary levels for the children of workers (mostly expatriates), who were engaged in the construction of the Akosombo dam.

The School, at its inception, was an interesting experiment in education. Of the 140 students who were enrolled in the school at the time, only 28 (i.e. 20%), were Ghanaians.The rest were foreigners from such diverse countries as Italy, United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Pakistan, the Netherlands, Brazil, and Portugal. All of these foreign students received tuition at AIS that enabled them to write examinations in their home countries.

With the completion of the Akosombo Dam project in 1966, the Akosombo International School was opened to the children/wards of all employees of the Volta River Authority. In 1968, a regular co-educational secondary department was added to the existing nursery and primary schools. Facilities were put in place to accommodate boarders. At its establishment, the secondary school department was intended to follow technical courses in order to take advantage of the numerous facilities in Akosombo for such pursuits (e.g. carpentry workshops, vehicle workshop, mechanical workshop, etc.) However, other courses such as General Science, General Arts, Home Economics and Business have been added to the School’s curriculum. In September 1990, a two-stream Junior Secondary School Department was introduced at Akosombo; and January 1994 saw the first intake of the three-stream Senior Secondary School in preparation for the phasing-out of the then existing secondary school system.

The year 1982 saw the further expansion of the facilities of the School with the opening of the Akuse Kindergarten and Primary Schools, as the second stream of the Akosombo International School. The Akuse School was established to cater for the children/wards of VRA sta in charge of the hydro-electric facilities at Akuse. A Junior Secondary School department commenced at Akuse in September 2002.

Kyease Kindergarten was set up to prepare pupils adequately before entering the public primary schools in Akosombo. In September 2002, however, the Kyease kindergarten was expanded into a primary school due to increase in the population of the Akosombo township and the consequent increasing demand for admission to the primary school at the main campus (i.e. at Community One).