I would kill for a picture to go with this posting.
Seriously, though, there was a riot at Ghana Senior Secondary (Ghanasco) last Friday. We first heard about it when trying to schedule an interview with the head teacher there. They couldn't do it, they were busy with damage control. Fair enough.
The rumours have already been circulating. In the first version I heard in the office on Monday, students were reacting to a new ban on mobile phones in the school, and had torched a master's (teacher's) motorbike. Samson lamented the students' shallowness. They are surrounded by issues worth a riot. Why a ban on mobiles?
We have several sponsored students at Ghanasco. One of them, Aziz, dropped by the office this afternoon, and we grilled him about the riot. The students, he said, were rioting over an increase in tuition fees, which the school had raised from 500 to 900. (I'm assuming his figures were annual, and in Ghana Cedis). The students protested at the school, but were driven off by police with teargas. The masters followed, beating several students. The students, in turn, followed the masters home, where they blew up a motorbike.
Kaboom.
Aziz was hoping we could pay for some extra courses. There's no word on when the school will reopen.
Visitors
About Me
- Eric Sanderson
- I'm a documentary videographer based in Vancouver, BC. I have my BFA from Simon Fraser University in film production, and I spent most of last year in Ghana working as a videographer. Since coming back, I've worked for the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, and helped with media workshops in First Nations communities. Currently freelancing and working on a couple different documentary projects. For more information, check out my page at about.me/ericsanderson
whoa serious.. How many students were they- did they plan anything or was it just suddenly triggered off. Did you notice that any signs of tension or violence beforehand- I don't think you mentioned it.
ReplyDeleteMy host brother is having less extreme but similar trouble at his teacher training college in a small town near Berekum. It's a foreign-sponsored Catholic institution in its first year and the campus is really beautiful and still being built to quite an ambitious and high standard. However the students are struggling to pay the high fees in the big lump sums they require and many are either being dismissed from the college without qualifications despite having paid for a semester or are given a few weeks but are being refused the college meals until they finish paying. Although, as my brother was saying, they're not going to start giving him extra food afterwards to make up for it once he gives the rest of the fee.
They set up a student council a couple of months ago but I don't know how effective or even representative it is yet- it turned out that only the catholic students could be elected so the non-catholics who won (including one guy called Terror who has presidential ambitions) were disqualified. Anyway I was totally encouraging them to stand together and petition or strike for fairer treatment but I'm not sure what they're next step is. But they're older and aiming for goverment work (state-school teaching) so I don't imagine they would go towards the rioting scene you describe.
It's so sad though- was this a boarding school- what's happening to the students now?
Zeenat