Fire disaster: Wa SHTS students agitate for break after third fire outbreak

Students of the Wa Senior High Technical School (Wa SHTS) are agitating to be allowed to go home following three fire incidents recorded at the school in a week that destroyed their personal belongings.

Some of the affected students complained that all their personal belongings including toothpaste and toothbrushes had been destroyed by the fire, adding that their monies for upkeep had also been consumed by the fire leaving them stranded.

Some of the students were heard saying, “It is better we die in front of our parents than to die here and our corpses will not be found.”

One student lamented bitterly: “Now all our things are burnt, we don’t even have toothpaste.”

“Me I want to go, I don’t want the school again, it is not a force. If I go and sleep outside, I will go and sleep outside than to be consumed by fire.

The classroom we are sleeping in is burning again, aba! Why?,” another distressed student cried.

The agitation of the students began on Sunday night, 22nd January 2023 when the first fire incident occurred at about 20:20 HRS burning a one-storey building hostel accommodation of female students and displacing about 114 students.

The affected students were subsequently moved into a temporal hostel facility but that was also guttered by fire on Monday night, 23rd January 2023 at about 20:19 HRS, barely 24 hours after the first incident occurred.

The school authority again settled the students in a classroom block and the Assembly Hall while steps were taken to stabilise them for academic activities to return to normal.

However, that did not also suffix, and the classroom block that housed the displaced students was also guttered by fire on Thursday night, January 26, 2023.

According to Ghana News Agency (GNA) source at the school, four students and a National Service Personnel collapsed upon the mention of “fire” on Thursday night and were rushed to the Upper West Regional and Wa Municipal Hospitals.

The National Service Personnel had since been discharged while the four students were stable but still at the hospital.

The source at the school who pleaded anonymity indicated that the Upper West Regional Director of Education, Mr Razak Abdul-Korah, had directed the school authorities to buy some necessities including toothpaste and toothbrushes, and panties for the students to enable them stay on campus.

The source also indicated that some benevolent individuals and institutions had donated some items including books to the affected students.

Personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service said investigations into the cause of the fire were still ongoing but the source at the school said they suspected an act of arson.

Meanwhile, when contacted, Mr Justine Kpan, the Upper West Regional Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Education Service, said he was yet to visit the school to ascertain the situation on the ground.