GHANASCO students on rampage

GNA

Tuesday, 1 June 2010

Tamale, June 1, GNA – Authorities of Ghana Senior High School (GHANASCO) have closed down the academic facility, following student’s riot which started on Sunday eveni ng, May 20.

Sixteen students who were arrested by the police have been charged w ith causing damage to public property and would soon be arraigned after investigations are over. The students, who were demonstrating against the decision of Managem ent to stop the use of mobile phones on campus, vandalised a number of property belonging to some tutor s including the burning of a motorbike.

Chief Inspector Ebenezer Tetteh, Public Relations Officer of the Northern Police Command told the Ghana News Agency in Tamale that when the police intervened to stop the rampagi ng students they turned their anger on the personnel leading to the breaking of the windscreen of a light-armoured van. This he said compelled the police to use tear gas to control them. About 16 students who got injured in the commotion were rushed to the Tamale Teaching Hospital for

15 students of GHANASCO arrested for rioting

news.myjoyonline.com

Monday, 31 May 2010

Fifteen students of Ghana Senior High School (GHANASCO) in Tamale have been arrested over rioting last night

The students cited as some of the reasons for their rioting, the arbitrary seizure of their mobile phones and charging of unapproved fees.

The rioting started Sunday night when students attacked some of their teachers, destroying the teachers’ personal effects including television sets, a motor bike and the louver blades of the school’s dining hall.

Police officers who were called in to save the situation fired tear gas to disperse the rampaging students suffocating 10 of the students in the process.

The 10 students who collapsed after inhaling tear gas were rushed to the Tamale Teaching Hospital where they are in stable condition. One of the five female students affected by the tear gas has been put on oxygen.

Some of the graffiti on the walls of the school threatened some teachers. Some of the inscriptions read: “MZ in danger of death,” “Your mothers,” “Munerra, go to hell.”

A teacher who pleaded anonymity told Joy News, that prior to the riot, the prefects of the school had written to challenge the decision of the authorities to seize students’ mobile phones and threatened to resign their positions if the decision was not revoked.

Their threats went unheeded.

Some of the mobile phones were uncovered from the underwears of female students.

Last year the release of the results of the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASCE) of students of GHANASCO was delayed because a mobile phone was discovered from a student in a examination centre.

By the time of filing this report, the Tamale Metropolitan Security Committee was meeting with the school’s authorities to resolve the impasse.

A source close to the authorities will not confirm if the school will be closed down temporarily in the face of the disturbances or not.

Police reaction

Public Relations officer of the Tamale Police, Chief Inspector Ebenezer Tetteh in an interview with Joy News said the school has been closed.

According to him, the students caused “extensive damage” not only to properties belonging to the teachers but smashed the windscreen of the light armoured vehicle sent into the school to restore law and order.

He said 15 of the students have been arrested and are under investigation for “causing damage and offensive conduct.”

They will be prosecuted if found culpable of the offence.

Informations

Tamale est la capitale de la Région du Nord du Ghana, avec une population recensée de 202 317 en 2000 et estimée à 466 723 habitants en 2010.

Ghana Secondary School is the second largest school in the region. A lot of important personalities have graduated from this school. It has a student population of about one thousand seven hundred. It is well known for its academic excellence and it sporting prowess (for which it is nicknamed « sports college »)

~ par Alain Bertho sur 2 juin 2010.

Publié dans émeutes, riots