Military men assaulting SHS students for demonstrating is unacceptable - Apaak

The Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak has described as unacceptable alleged attacks on students at the Kumasi and St. Louis Girls schools.

The legislator believes the attacks were terrible and must be dealt with.

Some students of Kumasi Girls’ Senior High School in the Ashanti Region have alleged that they have been assaulted by a team of police and military officers.

The students said they were allegedly attacked by the forces who were deployed to the school to ensure calm on Monday evening following a demonstration by the students.

The students were demonstrating over the decision by the school not to allow students go home for the mid-sem break, owing to a spike in COVID-19 cases in the country.

The decision by the school was in line with a directive issued by the Ghana Education Service (GES).

But the students reportedly destroyed some school properties in their protest, which led to military and police officers being deployed to restore peace.

Reacting to the issue, the MP who is also a Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee of Parliament said it was needless to send military officers to the school to harass and attack the students.

He was wondering why authorities wouldn’t learn from their mistakes and still militarize every situation.

He has condemned the act and has asked for the officers who allegedly attacked the students to be dealt with.

“Soldiers join the police to deal with students demonstrating on secondary school campuses, Kumasi Girls and St. Louis Girls. All Girls schools, the girls according to their accounts were assaulted. This is unacceptable!”

The legislator cautioned against the continuous use of the military in every security situation, a move he stressed could spell doom for the country.

He quizzed: "why would soldiers participate in helping in an effort aimed at restoration of calm in a Girls schools. Was it necessary? Who made the decision to include soldiers? Is it that the police were overwhelmed by the girls? To think that soldiers will be part of an effort to restore order in a girls’ school in the wake of the incident in Ejura, where the involvement of soldiers to deal with a demonstration led to the loss of lives must worry Ghanaians.”