Security beefed up at St John’s Primary School
Academic activities at the St John’s Primary School at Accra New Town have now resumed, after the school was closed down over the assault of some teachers by some young men and women in the area.
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Three police officers have also been assigned to provide security for both the teachers and students in the school.
According to the Headmistress, Mrs Grace Ama Richman, the policemen will remain on the school’s compound until the school goes on vacation.
Mrs Richman also explained that “the incident did not affect the students with respect to the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) since our department actually deals with the primary session. However, some of my teachers who were supposed to be part of the invigilation team had to write letters to the Ghana Education Service (GES) headquarters to be replaced since they were injured in the attacks,” she said.
The attacks on the teachers occurred on June 7 this year. It was triggered when a 15-year-old Class Five pupil was punished for misbehaving during a reading lesson.
During the lesson, she was unable to pronounce a word properly while reading a passage from a textbook, and when she was punished to kneel down, she refused to do so.
The pupil then stormed out of the class and later came back with some young men and women who descended on the teachers and assaulted them.
The teachers withdrew their services after the incident, leading to the closure of the school. The aggrieved teachers demanded that the thugs be brought to book else they were not going to teach.
However, after some intervention, the teachers resumed teaching after staying away for three days.
When the Junior Graphic visited the school, academic activities were in session, with teachers busily teaching.
Seventeen persons suspected to be behind the attacks were arrested by the police. They were later lined up by the police for an identification paraded.
According to the headmistress the pupil in question was picked up by the police but has since been released.
She stated that the pupil had been allowed to come back to school since she had not been dismissed.
Meanwhile, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Chief Executive, Dr Alfred Oko Vandapuije, has made a donation of GH¢500 each to the staff.
He also gave to the teachers double the amount of money they lost during the incident. That amount is in addition to the donation he made to the staff.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ayawaso Central Constituency, Mr Henry Quartey, also gave an undisclosed amount of money to five of the teachers who were seriously injured to take care of their medical expenses.
He gave each of these teachers a laptop, a half piece of cloth and a cell phone. The rest of the teachers each had a cell phone and a piece of cloth.