Government Secondary School, Afikpo (GSSA) is a boy

Boy

A boy is a young male human , as contrasted to its female counterpart, girl, or an adult male, a man.The term "boy" is primarily used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender role distinctions or both...

s' high school located in Afikpo

Afikpo

Afikpo is the second largest city in Ebonyi State of Nigeria. Until recently it was the home Local Government Area of the late Eze Akanu Ibiam, who hailed from the village of Unwana. Dr...

, a town in Ebonyi State

Ebonyi State

Ebonyi State is a mainland south-eastern state of Nigeria, inhabited and populated primarily by Igbo of south eastern Nigeria. Its capital and largest city is Abakaliki. Afikpo is the second largest city. Other major towns are EDDA, Mgbo, Onueke, Ezzamgbo, Nkalagu, Uburu, Onicha, Ishiagu , Ukawu,...

 in the former Eastern Region of Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

. This was the part of Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

 that sought without success to secede as the independent state of Biafra

Biafra

Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra . The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious...

 in the late 1960s. The Nigerian Civil War

Nigerian Civil War

The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War, 6 July 1967–15 January 1970, was a political conflict caused by the attempted secession of the southeastern provinces of Nigeria as the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra...

 was Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

’s ultimately successful attempt to reintegrate Biafra

Biafra

Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra . The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious...

 forcibly into the larger Nigerian polity. GSSA was one of the best of the antebellum “leadership academies” of Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

. The war and its aftermath changed that.

History

GSSA was established in 1952 by Charles W. Low.

The first Principal was Charles W. Low, an Australian

Academics

GSSA was established as an elitist school. The school has continued to be one of the best secondary schools in Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

. All students are required to complete a number of core courses in the Arts

ARts

aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

 and Sciences. Its students constantly achieved high scores in examination results at SSCE, O-Level and A-Level.

Sports/Extra-curricular Activities

Students of the school also participate in athletics and sports like, cricket, hockey, handball and football(soccer).

The school also has an Officer Cadet

Officer Cadet

Officer cadet is a rank held by military and merchant navy cadets during their training to become commissioned officers and merchant navy officers, respectively. The term officer trainee is used interchangeably in some countries...

 Corps

Corps

A corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...

 that offers instruction in adventure training, camping and field drills.

School Houses

The various houses to which students are assigned upon admission are:

• Afikpo House
• Akabogu House
• Charles Low House
• Ibiam House
• Mboto House
• Niger House
• Okpara House
• Ramat House
• School House

School Anthem

The school's anthem was composed by Dr. (Sir) Alex Osuji, an “aborigine

Australian Aborigines

Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...

”