HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL

Retold by the late Chairman, Mr M. J.S. MORIBA, as a reminiscence of the Late Dr Amadu Wurie
 
The Bo School was the brain-child of the then Governor of Sierra Leone, Sir Leslie Probyn, with the encouragement of the then Secretary of State for the colonies. The school was inaugurated on the pattern of an English public school. Thus in March 1906, the school was established in Bo, in the south eastern province of Sierra Leone. At the opening ceremony, there were many prominent people, including Paramount Chief Madam Yoko of Moyamba, Baimba Hotagua of Bo, Sandy of Tikonko representing the Mende land and Ibrahim Sanda representing Temne land. On the opening day, there were thirty-two pupils who had already enrolled. The chief aim of the founders was to educate the sons and nominees of the chiefs in such a manner, that after their return to their chiefdoms, they would assist the chiefs and tribal authorities in carrying out their administrative duties. For this reason, pupils of the Bo School were proscribed from entering general government employment. This policy continued up to 1916, when it was rescinded, thus allowing the absorption of Bo School graduates into the services.

The Rev. James Proudfoot was the first principal of the school and was shortly joined by two European assistants. Some more were recruited as the need arose. Native teachers were recruited to reflect tribal groupings of the pupils. These teachers were in reality interpreters for the European teachers, since the pupils were non-English speaking. The pupils' quarters comprised four groups of huts, two groups for the Mendes and the other two for the Temnes. As competitions in athletics and games in general came to be organised, the four groups of huts were given names by the pupils themselves after large cities in Britain and Europe. The largest group of huts was called London, the second Liverpool, the third Paris and the fourth Berlin. Berlin was however renamed Manchester in 1914 after the outbreak of the First World War in token manifestation of school boy patriotism.

By the end of the first five years of the school, the native teachers had become redundant as interpreters, the reason being that some of the pupils in the top classes had surpassed them in education. As a result, the prefectorial system was introduced in 1911. The prefects appointed assisted in the actual teaching process, particularly of the younger boys. To help the proficiency of the prefects in this, a prefects' class was setup, where more advanced lessons were taught in literature, elementary mathematics, general science, geography and political economy. The European scholars of course taught these subjects. As most of the Mende and Temne pupils were Muslims, to allay the suspicious of their fathers regarding their religious up-bringing, a devout and respected Muslim, by the name of Alpha Ahmed Tejan, was appointed to the staff as Arabic teacher. In addition to his Arabic teaching, he became a liaison officer between the European staff and the pupils.

In 1937, a Junior Cambridge Certificate was established and the school became a full secondary school in 1940. By this time, the school had ceased to be limited only to the sons and nominees of chiefs. The first batch of candidates for the higher school certificate was sent in 1954. The pupils were at that time housed in modern buildings with full fledge Sierra Leonean teachers amongst staff.