About Presbyterian Boys School - PRESEC

Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School (PRESEC) is a secondary boarding school for boys, in Legon, Accra, Ghana. It was founded in 1938, under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast. The Basel missionary-theologian, Nicholas Timothy Clerk (1862–1961), who served as the first Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast from 1918 to 1932, used his tenure to advocate for the establishment of the secondary school.[5] The school has ties with its sister schools, Aburi Girls' Senior High School and Krobo Girls Senior High School. The school's crest has a shield with the Presbyterian symbol (the St Andrew Cross-Scottish flag with the Swiss flag embedded and a burning torch in the middle) with the motto of the school, "In Lumine Tuo Videbimus Lumen", meaning "In Thy Light We Shall See Light", scrolled beneath the shield. The school was originally located in Odumase - Krobo in the Eastern Region of Ghana before moving to its current location in Legon, in 1968. The school anthem is "Happy Are We", written by J. L. Anang and transcribed by Stephen Appiah Danquah.[6] The school is a six-time Ghana National Science and Maths Quiz winner. The alumnus of the school are refereed to as "Ɔdadeɛ" The school was started in Odumase after an educationist of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast, E. A. W. Engmann, continued to lobby and push for the establishment of a church boys' school, after N. T. Clerk had retired from his church position.This effort came to fruition in 1938 with the first group of 16 boys and four teachers. Engmann was the first headmaster. The Odumase campus housed German missionaries, then a primary school and then a government survey school before becoming the Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School. One of the traditions of the school is the "ɔdadeɛ" (baobab tree) located on the campus. An alumnus of the school is referred to as "Ɔdadeɛ". The baobab tree is a Ghanaian symbol of knowledge, resourcefulness and strength. New students were traditionally initiated at the feet of this tree clad in bedsheets and powdered faces. PRESEC was located here until 1968 when it was moved to its current location at Legon, Mile 9. In September 1968, the new campus at Legon just north east of the University of Ghana campus at Mile 9, received its first set of students. At the new campus, it continued as a boys' boarding secondary school until the mid-1970s when the sixth form was upgraded to the National Science College. Female students were admitted into the sixth form in small numbers from September 1975. They continued to be part of the student body until June 1996 when the last batch left.