St. Paul riot: School failed to punish ‘homosexuals’ appropriately

The committee of enquiries into the SPACO riot has confirmed homosexuality as one of the Causes of the riot and a common practice in the school of which school authority has failed to deal with decisively.

The committee chaired by Mr. GJK Kumanyenu among other things sought to substantiate allegations by students that school authorities do condone gay practice in the school as well as probe into events that led to the students’ unrest on campus.

The report revealed that although homosexual activities have been rampant on the campus, teachers have failed to curb the practice and in some cases unable to carried out punishments that commiserate the offence. The committee also discovered other outstanding issues that depict that students are unhappy on how students’ funds are being managed.

The students accuse the school authorities of mismanaging their Students Representative Council’s (SRC) dues as well as loath to account other monies collected from them. As a result some teachers have been on the target list of the students for spearheading what the students described as an unresponsive conduct from the teachers.

The accrued grievances according to the report might have sparked the Friday rampage.

The 7-member committee set up by the Municipal Security Council also exposed some defects in the lightening systems and the general security on campus  

The Municipal Chief Executive of Ketu South Assembly Mr. Pascal Lamptey told citinews series of stakeholder engagements have begun towards the implementation of the findings. First among such engagements would be on 20^th February with the parents of the students.

‘’We accepted the recommendations and when we meet the parents that would be made known to them. From there the disciplinary aspect would be tackled by the Ghana education service’’ he disclosed.

‘’I want to express my condolence to the bereaved family and also use this opportunity to caution our students that it  is always good to follow lay down procedures; when you have grievances , it for you to report to the appropriate authorities so that they can investigate those grievances’’ he cautioned.  

Mr. Pascal Lamptey added ‘’as an assembly we would continue to work with the school authority to ensure an enabling environment is made for them to learn’’.

Meanwhile the school considering possibilities of calling the final year students back to school soon to adequately prepare them for their final examinations.

The students few days ago in their attempts to lynch two suspected gay colleagues caught in the act staged a protest against school authorities that they accused of condoning the act. This sparked a riot leading to the death of a student with others injured.