‘No food’: Lassia Tuolu SHS faces closure as fire guts dining hall

A fierce fire engulfed portions of the Lassia Tuolu Senior High School on Sunday (10 March), destroying the school’s dining hall and leaving students to their fate.

Authorities are currently investigating the cause of the fire, which resulted in the destruction of both wooden and concrete structures used for storing food supplies. There were no reported casualties.

“We realized that it was the hall that was on fire and so we rushed to the scene to put out the fire. Some of our masters were around and so they called the Fire Service who did not respond on time, but they came and controlled the situation," a school prefect narrated the incident to Accra-based Asaase Radio.

“Now there is no food… This morning, we haven’t even taken our breakfast because of the situation and as you can see most of the final-year students are rushing to see authorities about the way forward.”

District Chief Executive (DCE) for Wa East, Vida Dioretey, led a delegation to the school in response to the incident. She expressed concerns about the impact of the fire on academic activities, stating that there may be a need to temporarily close the school as students could face challenges accessing food.

“Let’s try and comport ourselves,” the DCE said while addressing the traumatised students. “We will look for a temporary solution to this problem while we look for a permanent one. I won’t take this story and keep it to myself I will let it out… If it comes to the worse and you are not to stay in school, wherever you find yourself, live well, stay well as we find solutions to this issue.”

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) were not available for comments, at the time of filing this report.

Lassia-Tuolu Senior High School is a mixed-sex Catholic school with great academic merits and popularity in the Upper West Region. It is the only second-cycle school in the Wa West District.