Students of the Akro Senior High Technical School in the Eastern Region on Monday, accompanied by their parents, returned to school to continue academic activities after a temporal closure of the school.
The calm ambiance observed on the day was at sharp variance to the situation on Saturday, 22nd January 2022 when students clashed with some ghetto youth.
However, only 150 out of a total of 450 boarders reported on Monday with the rest expected on Tuesday. Authorities say end-of-semester examinations which were suspended due to the unrest would resume on Wednesday.
The school was temporarily shut down on Sunday, 23rd January 2022 by the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education after some youth raided the school and attacked students over the lynching of one of their own on Friday, 21st January 2022.
An inconclusive PTA meeting prior to the closure of the school was held after the parents brought their wards to review incidents prior to the closure and discuss the way forward.
Outgoing chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association, Mr. David Sakitey Asare said though parents were not particularly convinced with the security and safety of their wards as they return to continue with academic works, the school management committee however assured them of the best of security measures for the students.
“Before the school was formerly closed down, parents were very much agitated, they weren’t very happy and so you can imagine that coming just two weeks after that, they would not be too happy but we have to give them the assurance,” the PTA chairman noted.
According to him, answers and assurances given the parents during Monday’s meeting were enough to convince them of the safety of their wards and hence the need to leave them behind for academic activities.
Some security personnel were spotted on the campus and as the PTA chairman explained, the police would continue to maintain their presence in the school until otherwise determined.
Headmaster of the school, Charles Osom Baah also reiterated that parents had received the necessary assurances regarding the required protection from the Municipal Security Committee (MUSEC) for their children.
“We spoke to the parents to allay their fears that the school is peaceful and their children are in safe hands,” said the headmaster. We are getting all the necessary protection from the Municipal Security Committee.”
He added that the students will undergo guidance and counselling from the school management as well as hold a forum with the police.
A male student who said in an interview with GhanaWeb that he was not entertaining any fears returning to school stated, “First we were very nervous about what happened because of the incident when they called for close down for two weeks…some of us were afraid to come back because we know the town boys, they can harm us at any time but now per the meeting they held now, we’re very safe because they’ll give us more security to protect us.”
A female student also said, “I can see that I’m safe, the police service are also here.”
Academic activities are expected to commence immediately.
