Navasco Students Surcharged for Rampaging

Bolgatanga, June 28, (Akapule) GNA - The Navrongo Senior High School (NAVASCO) in the Upper East Region would be re-opened on Wednesday June 30, 2010 after a four-week closure following a violent students' demonstration. However, about 1,160 students of the school who were involved in last month's rampage on campus have been surcharged to pay GHc15 each for causing damage to government and private properties valued at about GHc17,357 and would only be allowed back on campus after they have settled the prescribed bill.

In addition, the students have to re-apply for admission, with both parents and students appending their signatures on the letter of application which also includes a bonding clause to be of good behaviour. It would be recalled that on May 30 this year, some students of NAVASCO were prevented from entering the dining hall during supper for lateness. They did not take it kindly and went on a violent demonstration, vandalizing school and individual property.

Twenty-one students who were identified as ring leaders and looted several properties during the unrest, are to be made non-residential until they complete their courses.

They include Kabiru Issifu, Zakaria Bukari, Bashiru, Blanksin, Abosah Hamidu, Michael Atia, Salifu Dawda, Musah Abugre and Kologo Emmanuel. Others are Lengbon Emmanuel, Edward Leon Khory, Issac Issah , Abraham, Tony Yaayoo, Moro Briamah, and Stephen Abaah. The rest are Kwarase Bertha, Atibila Ababio Michael, Oswel Abolga, Jonh Abongo and Akanziri Sabastian. These sanctions were recommended by a seven-member committee set up by the Regional Minister, Mr. Mark Woyongo on the advice of the Acting Regional Director of Education, Mrs. Agnes Atagabe, to investigate the causes of the rampage.

The Committee further recommended that members of the Students' Representative Council (SRC) should be relieved of their leadership status on the grounds of rudeness and arrogance.

The Committee advised that the quality of meals provided for students should be improved as done in other schools, adding that the Conference of Heads of Assisted Senior High Schools (CHASS) should discuss further on acceptable menu for all schools in the Region to eliminate comparisons that could fuel students' unrest.

The Committee advised that the School authorities make special appeal to the appropriate quarters for the expansion of the dinning hall to ease congestion, and said in the interim the School authorities should reschedule the time table for students to eat in turns to ensure that existing facilities are adequate for the students to avoid congestion. It also noted that School authorities should organize regular orientation for the SRC and the entire prefects' body, with occasional invitations to Old Students to come and talk to the students. School authorities, it suggested, should exercise closer supervision over the kitchen staff to ensure that the menu was followed, while food provided for students are of the right quality and quantity. In addition, it recommended that duty schedules for staff be revisited and proactive measures put in place to ensure compliance by all Masters. "The School Management Committee should be strict on supervision over the Masters to ensure that the assigned Masters' tasks are carried out accordingly," it emphasised.

The channel of communication between the school administration and student leadership should be promoted and used effectively to disseminate information to students, as the lack of feed back put doubts in the minds of aggrieved persons especially students, the Committee recommended. The student leadership should also be encouraged to have regular dialogue with school administration to put forward their grievances so as to promote mutual respect and good relationship.

The Committee also advised that parents should keep to their decision not to allow their wards to go to school with mobile phones and un-prescribed clothes and that the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) should come out with pre-scribed and stiffer punishment against students who flout rules and regulations.

Meanwhile, the Committee identified the immediate cause of last month's rampage as the locking out of the students from the dinning hall, and said the late comers who did not get their meals that evening were aggrieved and started shouting, throwing stones, seizing property and causing damage to school property which alarmed the school authority to call in the police. The remote causes established by the Committee included poor quality meals, request for reduction of the number of students per a dinning table from 14 to 10 or 12, inadequate furniture in classrooms, poor service at the dispensary, inappropriate accounts for House dues, seizure of students mobile phones, lack of toilet facilities, non-performance and laxity on the part of some masters towards their duties and responsibilities among others. The Regional Minister who read the Committee's report out at a meeting in Bolgatanga on Monday, advised the school authorities, Staff, Board of Governors, PTA, students' leadership, Old Students Association and other stakeholders of the Navrongo SHS to take a cue from the incident to address all the nagging issues confronting the school and bring back its lost glory. He also entreated the School administration to ensure the implementation of all the recommendations in the Committee's report to the letter, so as to avert any future occurrences and urged parents to cooperate with the school authorities to ensure that discipline was maintained.