History of St. James Seminary And Senior High, Abesim
St. James Seminary Senior High School was established in 1978 by the late Bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Sunyani Most Rev. James Owusu. In spite of the initial resistance and discouragement from many quarters, St. James Seminary opened as a private school with the admission of 14 students in the first year under the supervision of Monsignor Robert Mensah Abrampah as its first rector. The subsequent rectors would encounter humongous academic and infrastructural challenges in its running to the extent of relying on a few teachers to handle multiple subjects. A story is told of the current Vicar-General of Roman Catholic Diocese of Sunyani; Monsignor Dr. George Kwame Kumi who alone taught physics, chemistry and biology for a number of years. The school also relied on part-time teachers from its current rivals Sunyani Secondary School to provide tuition to students of St. James in the early years.
Help would later come when a former headmaster of St. Peter's Boys Senior High School at Nkwatia-Kwahu, Rev. Fr. Joseph Glatzel (SVD) was transferred to Yamfo to work in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sunyani. Rev. Fr. Glatzel single-handedly funded and supervised the construction of the school's major classroom blocks and its first ever staff bungalow.[10] Some notable teachers who were of great help to the school in its teething years include; Charles Oko Agyeman, Reverend Father John McVoy (became 2nd rector), Rev. Sr. Gerald (Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit), the first female teacher, Monsignor John Oppong Baah, Reverend Brother Joe Tsiquaye (Congregation of Holy Cross), among others.
The school trained seminarians through Ghana's old educational system and participated in the West African Examinations Council's General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level Exams. Students of St. James continuously produced impeccable results year-in-year-out.[11] However, in 1994, mainly due to the call on the Bishop by the Catholic faithful in the Sunyani Diocese for the establishment of a boys’ school to cater for their sons’ secondary education, the Bishop agreed to open up the seminary to non-seminarians to study alongside seminarians to ensure they all benefit from the high academic and moral discipline in St. James Seminary. The objective was that the future priests, and future laity, Catholics and non-Catholics, would know each other and establish cordial working relationships within and outside the church in the future.
St. James Seminary Secondary School became a government assisted school in 1994. The administration of the school has since been reserved for the church. The co-operation between seminarians and non-seminarians has been remarkably positive.
