Fire Service urged to organize training sessions for Senior High Schools

Africa Education Watch, a non-governmental organization, has urged the Ghana National Fire Service to organize training sessions for Senior High Schools in the country.

According to the Executive Director of the organization, Kofi Asare, this would go a long way to prevent more fire outbreaks in second-cycle schools.

In the last three weeks, there have been reports of a fire outbreak at parts of five senior high schools.

Already, parts of about five Senior High Schools have been gutted by fire in less than three weeks.

The five schools include Bupie SHS, Islamic Girls SHS, Accra Academy SHS, Oppon Memorial Secondary School, and Boa Amponsem SHS.

To efficiently deal with the situation, Kofi Asare wants the Ghana National Fire Service to collaborate with the Ghana Education Service.

‘It is important for the Ghana Education Service to collaborate with the National Fire Service to organize fire outbreak exercises in the schools. These fire outbreaks exercises will teach the students what to do to prevent fires. And in the eventuality that there is a fire outbreak, they will be able to contain if it is within their capacity.

This fire exercise is very important because it will help to change the behaviour of students and teachers in the environment towards preventing or overcoming fire outbreaks.’

Kofi Asare also wants the Education Ministry and the Ghana Education Service to take primary responsibility and lead in discussions on how to prevent similar incidents.

“It is not the duty of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary schools (CHASS) to take charge. It is the duty of the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service do renovations of the schools as well as rewiring, that is if there is a report that states that wiring is the cause of fire outbreaks in schools,” he added.