Regional News of Wednesday, 20 March 2019

Source: mynewsgh.com

Angry principal locks out Trainee Nurses; forces them to sleep in the open

Over 500 nursing students of the Ntotroso College of Nursing at Ntotroso in the Asutifi North District of the Ahafo Region were on Monday, March 18, 2019, forced to sleep outside after the angry principal locked up the school dormitories after the students failed to sign a bond of good behaviour, MyNewsGh.com has confirmed.

The nursing students early this month were asked to go home following their threats to embark on a demonstration against the Principal of the school over his style of leadership.

According to what MyNewsGh.com gathered, the students had complained that despite paying for practical sessions and other levies, they were not allowed to enjoy such services which amounted to cheating.

They subsequently petitioned the Minister of Health to sack the Principal of the school, Alhaji Abdul Karim Boakye Yiadom, over the issue.

Led by the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the College, they stated that they have paid several amounts of money to the authorities who are not putting them to good use with the payment of the latest fees, not any different sparking the tension between the students and the Principal.

MyNewsGh.com can confirm that the petition of the students to remove the principal of the school, Alhaji Abdul Karim Boakye Yiadom was not taken into consideration by the authorities at the Health Ministry as the principal was asked to be at his post and continue to manage the affairs of the school.

Some of the students who spoke to MyNewsGh.com said the principal asked them to sign a bond of good behaviour as a plan to stop them from pursuing the issue further but they failed to sign resulting in the current standoff.

According to the students, the principal locked up their dormitories on Monday which forced them to sleep outside while some went to hotels and guest houses to sleep.

“As we are talking to you now we don’t know when he (the Principal) will open the dormitories for us to sleep. We were at the mercy of mosquitos. Those of us who don’t have money were forced to sleep outside while those who have money slept in hotels and guest houses. We have been calling the principal’s phone but he has switched it off since yesterday” one of them lamented.

Efforts to talk to either the principal or his vice about the development proved futile but at the time of filing this report, the students were still sleeping in the open.