Up until 1947, most young people in the Dormaa Traditional Area — and across Western Ashanti, now part of the Bono Region — could only study up to Standard Seven, or Middle School Form Four. Few went further, since there wasn’t a single secondary school in the whole Brong Ahafo Region. Even though the Ashanti Confederacy Council had a scholarship program for higher education, no student from Dormaa ever benefited


Seeing this problem, two teachers from Dormaa who were working in Kumasi—Joseph Manase Oppong (“Teacher Oppong”) and Samuel Kwadwo Yeboah (“Teacher Yeboah”) — decided to act.

In 1946, they began mobilizing support and raising funds across the Dormaa State. Their efforts led to the opening of Dormaa State College on 24 February 1947, in a wooden storey building (Nua-Abrosan) belonging to Nana Kwasi Baah, the Dormaa Gyaasehene.