The headmistress of Chiraa Senior High School in the Brong-Ahafo Region, Grace Manu, has reportedly prevented some final-year students of the school from writing the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) because the students were alleged to have stolen goats belonging to the school.
Investigations by DAILY GUIDE revealed that four students – Emmanuel Boateng, Julius Amoako, Fei Eric Massud and another student whose name was not yet known – were arrested by the Chiraa police after writing the Chemistry paper. They were locked up without first getting their parents informed. Emmanuel Boateng, for instance, was reportedly locked up for three days.
At the time of this reporter’s visit to the school, Ms Grace Manu was at a meeting with the chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of the school together with the assistant headmaster and the accountant.
The PTA chairman told this paper that one of the students was still at large and that the police were looking for him to come and give his side of the story before the school authorities could speak to the media.
Further cross-checks with the Chiraa police confirmed the story but the station officer, Chief Inspector Thomas Torlet, would also not give details because he had not got clearance from his superiors to speak to the media. According to him, they (police) were doing their work as peace officers and so anything reported to them would be acted upon saying, “We will carry out our work irrespective of who is involved.”
He therefore asked this reporter to go back to the headmistress because it was she who reported the case to their outfit.
However, further investigations by this paper revealed that five teachers of the school purportedly collaborated with the four students to steal the goats. When the students were arrested by the school‘s security men and brought before the headmistress, they allegedly mentioned the five teachers as those behind the theft. After initial investigations by the authorities and proof of the teachers’ involvement, they were summoned before the headmistress and asked to buy two goats each – the students and the teachers – to replace the stolen ones. The students pleaded and the number was reduced to one.
The teachers however, reportedly refused to buy the goats, complaining that the school authorities did not allow them the right of explanation. One of the teachers was said to have had some brawls with the headmistress; and infuriated, she reported the case to the police and the students were picked up on 2nd April immediately after they had written the Chemistry paper.
