The senior high school certificate, according to her, would help her to continue her education to the tertiary level and beyond to be able to take advantage of opportunities that may come her way, and which would require a higher level of education.
Mrs Awuku told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that, she dropped out of school in 2010 at SHS level two, because she could no longer support herself financially.
“My father was very rich but vowed not to sponsor a girl-child through education but was ready to give her out for marriage,” she said.
According to her, she was a bright student but dropped out of school and got married later to her husband.
However, after giving birth to three boys, her husband suggested to her to go back to school.
Mrs Awuku, who already had a complete family and her business, barbed her hair and went back to Junior High School (JHS) level three to re-sit for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic.
She noted that the experience at the JHS was stressful as she had to manage family, business, and school, adding that, “the children were scared of me, so I had to come down to their level.”
After writing the BECE, she noted that, she gained admission to study Agricultural Science at the Armed Forces Senior High School in Kumasi with an aggregate of 11.
“Imagine me living in Sehwi in the Western North Region and gaining admission to study in Kumasi.
I have an ambition to attain a higher education, so, I took my children to my grandmother and came to school,” she stated.
Among the many challenges she faced, were how her children were nearly introduced to weed smoking by her uncle, who lived with her grandmother.
She said she was proud of herself and her family for achieving this height despite all the challenges she encountered on her journey to pursue her ambition.
Mrs Awuku noted that, this was not the end for her because she would return to Kumasi when she gained admission to study at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
According to one of her teachers, she was among the top five students in the class of 56 students, very disciplined and hardworking as well.
The teacher mentioned that Mrs Awuku had an entrepreneurial mind-set as she always baked pastries to sell in school when she returned to school after vacation.
The teacher stated that education was not time-bound and that anyone with ambition and determination could go back to school.
GNA
