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| Parents and relatives drenched in tears as they see lifeless bodies |
When 3FM
News Central regional stringer, Perry Baka, hinted a school building in the
region had collapsed, I got winced and terrified.
It was
at the Jamra Methodist Primary School in Breman Jamra of the Asikuma Odobeng
Brakwa District. Four pupils had been killed on the spot and two others died
when rushed to the hospital afters the building collapsed.
It
was Tuesday morning January 31, 2017.
I had not an iota of courage to download
pictures he sent which told the story of the tragic incident.
‘How
would parents of these kids receive this breaking news’? I quizzed myself.
I have
read and watched such a story before and I know how sad it feels seeing one’s
child, sent to school to become a better person, only to be killed by the very
school. In 2008, Joy FM’s Manasseh Azure Awuni, then working as a freelance
journalist, filed a horrifying story for Ghana Television (GTV).
The story
featured a boy, Kwadwo Njorfuni, who attended the Banda
English Arabic Primary School. In November that year, the unfortunate happened
when the wall of Kwadwo’s classroom collapsed.
“One pupil, Godwin Ayensu, 11, who
sat near the collapsed wall, died on the spot. Another pupil, Sumaila Labil,
fell into coma. Ten pupils, including Kwadwo Njorfuni and Sumaila Labil, had to
be rushed to safety,’ wrote Manasseh.
The story of the Banda English
Arabic Primary School pupils was never nice even afterwards. The injured
children had to endure the excruciating pain of having to travel in a rickety
car on the deplorable Banda to Krachi stretch of road for treatment.
Kwadwo Njorfuni, after months of
struggling for treatment, lost the battle. He died through no fault of his.
Sumaila Labil, and the other surviving pupils managed to go
back to school. They had, however, been abandoned three years after the
incident. Sumaila’s case was not anything better. His life was but a disturbing
tale to tell. He had been left with mental illness as he was unable to undergo
the recommended brain surgery after the incident.
One would have taught that after the Banda
English Arabic Primary School’s sad story, the Ghana Education Service (GES)
and other stakeholders- who were nonchalant about the pupils’ plight- would have
learnt their lessons and worked hard to have at heart the welfare of school
pupils across the country. This did not happen.
On February 14, 2014, a school bus
carrying 41 pupils, after school, “had a terrible crash injuring many of the
school pupils,” reported GNA. It happened at a spot on the Abesim-Tanoso road
in the Brong Ahafo region.
Chief Inspector Francis Addo of the
Brong Ahafo Motor Traffic and Transport Department told the media the accident
could have been caused by excessive overloading.
He said per numerous complaints
received, the MTTD had sent letters to all private schools in the Sunyani
municipality to discuss the poor condition of these schools buses. This letter
from the MTTD, the Association of Private Schools had not responded.
Two days after this Abesim-Tano
accident, another accident happened at the same spot. It involved two school
buses. The buses of Preprah-Agyeman Capital Preparatory School [located at
Abesim] and that of Emmanuel Preparatory Complex [at Duayaw Nkwanta].
An overtaking by the bus of Emmanuel
Preparatory Complex caused accident causing parents and relatives of pupils,
onboard these buses, to storm Regional Hospital, Sunyani in search of their
injured.
I never heard or read the GES
launching investigations into these bus drivers and school authorities’ sheer
negligence which led to maiming some pupils.
In our part of the world, we do what
is inspected instead of what is expected. So, I was never surprised when the Ministry
of Education and the government] thronged the funeral of the Jamra pupils.
Coffins were been provided for the
families of the deceased pupils to bury their lost. I read somewhere on a news portal the government again
footed the cost of the funeral. And this gesture, by government, will probably
close the docket of someone’s sheer negligence leading to loss of innocent and
precious lives.
According to media reports, the chief of Breman Jamra had
told the Jamra Methodist School to take a critical look at the school’s
building since it had cracks. Some other town folks had complained of the
cracks too but all to no avail. That Tuesday’s disaster was as a result of
collective negligence and a full scale investigation must get some people
brought to book.
Living in Africa is like being set before you a lion. The ability to escape it is an individual task.
Living in Africa is like being set before you a lion. The ability
to escape it is an individual task. We have been terrorized enough by this ‘lion’
of some of our leaders shirking their responsibilities for far too long. This
is the time to get serious. Every single life matters. If no one got punished
for supervising the collapse of Kwadwo Njorfuni’s classroom wall, which killed
and maimed pupils; that of six lives lost at Breman Jamra must not be brushed
under the carpet.
Nine months of our mothers and sisters bearing the weight of
protruded bellies, waking up at night to breastfeed their babies and fathers
throwing in cash for diapers and the likes must not j ust go waste in hands of some irresponsible
folks.
The
writer is a broadcast journalist with 3FM 92.7. The views expressed in this
article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect 3FM’s editorial
policy.
Email:
nehusthan4@yahoo.com
Twitter: @Aniwaba
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