KNUST SHS death: It is premature to condemn teachers without hearing their side – GNAT

Teachers at the KNUST Senior High School in the Ashanti Region came under serious attack following the death of a final year business student, Richard Leonard Sam, on Monday, July 6, 2020.

The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Thomas Tanko Musah, has called for a proper investigation into the students’ death adding that it is premature to attack teachers.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb he said, “It is premature, unacceptable to state the Head Teacher together with the teachers of the school that they are guilty without giving them fair hearing because that is unacceptable.”

On the account of some students of KNUST SHS, teachers present at the time looked on without offering any assistance to the sick boy with the fear of contracting Coronavirus.

Following the death of the student, the headmistress of KNUST SHS, Felicia Asamoah Dankwa, was made to step aside for the Ashanti Regional Director of Education to take over the administration of the school while investigations go on.

The mother of the deceased student who spoke to the media mentioned that her son was an ulcer patient adding that she had gone to the school the day before his death to visit her sick son but was sent away by the security man.

Speaking to the General Secretary of GNAT on the back of this development, he mentioned that, "students, teachers, and staff who are sick should not come to school. Nurses mapped to the schools must check this. Can the teachers test this?”

Mr. Tanko Musah told GhanaWeb that someone neglected their work and they need to be held responsible for the “unfortunate” death of the final year student who was preparing to write his WAASCE in few weeks.

“People claim that they saw teachers standing there… you don’t condemn a person without giving them a hearing. If you listen to the side of the teachers, it will amaze you to know why they were standing, and in any case why is it that the state that promised that each school will be mapped to a health facility not providing that facility for the school? Where was the nurse?” He queried.