KUMACA students go home after row over three deaths

Students of Kumasi Academy in the Ashanti Region have been allowed to go home following disturbances on campus Friday night linked to the death of three students.

Apart from final year students sitting West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), all students unwilling to stay on campus have been permitted to go home.

Chaotic scenes were recorded at Kumasi Academy with a student population of over 2,000 after parents tried to enter the school to gain access to their wards following viral reports of a disturbance on campus.

Some students were protesting against the school administration after three students died in the past 15 days.

The students whose identities are yet to be confirmed were taken ill at the school's sick bay and later granted exeats to seek further medical treatments. But they passed away.

"We do not know the cause of death. however they did not die here on campus" Assistant Headmaster Ernest Wiafe told Joy News.

The students alarmed at what some believed were mysterious deaths, began agitating against the school administration. Things came to head on when some students besieged the premises of the headmistress hurling stones.

They vandalised school properties triggering mayhem on campus.

Students reportedly called their parents as pandemonium gave life to several wild rumours and exaggerated deaths. Some claimed 18 students had died.

Some students said their colleagues died of food poisoning, a claim the school authorities have strongly dismissed.

"There was nothing like food poisoning" Mr. Wiafe said later in an interview.

In a frenzy, guardians charged to the school gate Friday evening but faced resistance from the police who had been called in to restore order.

Authorities were concerned about the safety of the students departing campus late in the night in the company of persons they could not confirm were parents.

While police contained the students, they had new work to contain agitated parents. An unyielding number of parents slept at the school gate.

The students were however allowed to go home Saturday morning as part of efforts to dispel anxiety on campus.

Source: Ghana|myjoyonline.com

Date: 01-04-2017 Time: 06:04:39:pm