The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo has ordered a two-week closure of Navrongo Senior High School, following a rampage by the students last Sunday night, leading to the destruction of school property.
Mr Woyongo also directed the Regional Directorate of Education to constitute a seven-member committee to find out the cause of the disturbance and the extent of damage caused to State property.
On the night of Sunday May 30, the students went on a rampage on campus and vandalised louver blades in the Administration Block, staff
accommodation, and destroyed streetlights and electronical gadgets in reaction to the prevention of some of them from entering the dinning hall due to lateness.
The students also broke into the senior headmistress' office and made away with an unspecified amount of money and 40 mobile phones that were seized by the school authorities. In addition, they destroyed accounting books and threatened to attack the tutors.
The Police were dispatched to the school campus to prevent further destruction of property.
Briefing the Regional Minister on the incident on Monday, the Assistant headmaster of the School, Mr Sixtus Adikwo, said at about 2200 hours on Sunday, he heard the students chanting war songs and throwing stones as they marched from the headmaster's residence towards the Administration Block.
He said he attempted to calm them down but to no avail, and that he was even stoned in the process.
Mr Adikwo said the students who were armed with offensive weapons also threatened to attack their colleagues who did not taken part in the rampage.
Mr Adikwo added that sensing danger, he informed the District Chief Executive, Mr Emmanuel Andema, who asked the Police to intervene.
Commenting on the event, the District Co-ordinating Director, Mr Edward Abazing, said there was a remote cause to the unrest.
He said the Students Representative Council claimed that the School Administration did not listen to their grievances including the poor quality of food served them.
The students also complained about the dilapidated nature of the school infrastructure which, they said, was affecting their academic work, as well as the seizure of their mobile phones.
The Regional Minister who later addressed the students, told them that they would bear the cost of the items they had vandalised, and warned that gone were the days when people destroyed public property and went free.
Mr Woyongo said those behind the disturbances would be sought out and punished, since they should have passed their grievances through the appropriate channels for redress rather than resort to violence. "As future
leaders you should learn to be disciplined and responsible," he said.
The Regional Minister said Government was initiating plans to improve upon the school's infrastructure ahead of the celebration of its Golden Jubilee which comes off later this year.