GUIDE TO PREPARING A STRATEGIC PLAN

BRIEF BACKGROUND OF THE SCHOOL (Start with an introduction briefly describing the
school. (Bear in mind the geographical, leadership, school environment community of service)
Istiqaama Senior High School was officially opened on Monday 16th October, 2006 by
Istiqaama Muslim Organization of Ghana under the leadership of the Country Director (Sheikh
Umar Adam Suleiman) and his team of elders from the Istiqaama Muslim Organization –
Wenchi; supported by the Sultanate of Oman.

At its foundation, the school started as a private institution with a total student enrolment of sixty
(60) – 35 female and 25 male students. In all, there were thirteen (13) staff members i.e. ten (10)
teaching and three (3) non-teaching. It was absorbed as a government-assisted Senior High
School in the 2011/2012 academic year to run as a Day/Boarding School. The first Headmaster
was a retired educationist; Mr. T.E.K Hassan. The school started from ASWAQ Basic School
premises, located in Wenchi Zongo. Later, it moved to its current permanent location at Nkonsia
along the Wenchi-Techiman Highway.
The school started with three (3) programmes: namely general science, General Science and
Business when it was private. Three (3) more programmes were introduced when the school
became public. There are home Economics, Visual Arts and Agric Science. Below is the total
number of programmes run by the school:
The school offers six (6) Programmes – General Arts (Including Islamic studies and Arabic),
Business, General Science, Agriculture, Home Economics and Visual Arts.
S/No. Programme Courses/Subjects
1. General Arts Geography, Government, Islamic Religious Studies,
Economics, History, Elective Mathematics, Elective ICT,
Literature-in-English, Twi (Asante), Arabic, French.
2. Business Financial Accounting, Business Management, Cost
Accounting, Economics, Elective Mathematics, Elective ICT.
3. General Science Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Elective Mathematics, Elective
ICT.
4. Agriculture General Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Chemistry, Elective
Mathematics
5. Home Economics Food and Nutrition, Management-in-Living, General
Knowledge in Art, Biology, Economics
6. Visual Arts General Knowledge in Art, Leatherwork, Graphic Design,
 Economics, Elective ICT

The main ideas and aims of the establishment of the school were in two folds – firstly, to enable
children of Ghana to get good and effective English/Arabic and Islamic education, which will
make them useful Citizens in the future. Secondly, offer students religious and moral training
that would go a long way to mould the students to become better ambassadors of not only Islam,
but their country, Ghana in the near future.
VISION, MISSION AND CORE VALUES OF THE SCHOOL.
VISION:
A mission institution of excellence and holistic education
MISSION:
To provide moral, physical and academic training to learners in line with global standards
CORE VALUES:
(QLESI)
1. Qur’an and Sunnah as our main guide
2. Lifelong learning
3. Effective leadership and sound planning
4. Self – initiative and teamwork
5. Integrity and commitment
SLOGAN:
Uprightness

TEN (10) STRENGTHS OF THE SCHOOL BASED ON OUR EXPERIENCE

1. The leadership team provides clear, tangible evidence of supervision of teaching and
learning activities showing the focus of supervision (such as attendance for both
learners and teachers, punctuality, and regularity).
2. The leadership team provides evidence of weekly supervision of teaching and
learning activities.
3. The leadership team provides evidence of feedback to teachers.
4. The leadership team demonstrates the capacity to improve teaching.
 5. The leadership team provides constructive feedback to teachers and provides the
needed remedial measures to teachers to improve their teaching.
6. The school has safe information storage/database, and it is accessible.
7. The school provides evidence of safe information storage (such as ICT database/
tool).
8. The school has the right number of staff with the requisite qualifications
9. The school is the only public Islamic Senior High School in Bono, Bono East and
Ahafo regions
10. The school has vast acres of land for future expansion

TEN (10) WEAKNESSES OF THE SCHOOL BASED ON OUR EXPERIENCE

1. The vision, mission and core values of the school are not widely disseminated and are not
relevant to achieving our teaching and learning objectives.
2. The school’s relationship with the board is poor and needs improvement.
3. The leadership team of the school lacks a clearly drawn plan and strategies with evidence
of involvement of school community (i.e., leadership and management, teaching, non-
teaching staff and students).
4. The school does not have a plan and strategy that shows key areas for improvement such
as school facilities etc.
5. The school does not have a system for generating, receiving and disseminating
information to students, guardians and the school community.
6. Protracted land litigation on portions of the school land
7. The school is far from the Wenchi township where the majority of the day students
commute from
8. The majority of students have very weak academic backgrounds; the average aggregate
of students is 32
9. Inadequate facilities to march with the ever-increasing school enrolment
10. Majority of the students come from poor socio-economic backgrounds

Opportunities available to the school based on our experience

1. The school is a fertile ground to propagate Islam since it is the only public Islamic Senior
High School in the middle belt of Ghana; extending its reach to savannah region
2. The school can leverage on the pool of Islamic scholars within the mission to strengthen
Islamic and Arabic teaching
3. Vast land for future expansion
4.
Threats to the school based on our experience
 Describe 10 strategies you will recommend helping develop a 5-year strategic plan
bearing in mind the SWOT analysis done above.