Committee blames GHANASCO riots on weak enforcement of rules

Tamale, June 24, GNA - Mr Charles Nyabu, Educationist and Chairman of an eight-member committee, set up to investigate students unrest in Ghana

Senior High School (GHANASCO) in Tamale has blamed the incident on weak enforcement of discipline by the tutors. "We also identified inability of the school authorities to properly instil discipline in the school, while the authorities were careless in handling the needs of the students," he said.

Mr Nyabu made the observation when he presented a report of the committee to Mr Moses Bukari Mabengba, Regional Minister in Tamale on Wednesday. He said the GHANASCO riot was largely due to the inability of the disunited tutors to apply the rules. The committee, which was inaugurated on Wednesday, June 2 with a two-week mandate to complete work, had to take three-weeks to do so due t o the enormous nature of their task. Mr Nyabu said the seizure of students mobile phones was the immediat e cause of the riot, adding that the action was irregular. Mr Mabengba commended the committee for a good work done and said th e report would be submitted to the Minister of Education to study after whi ch a white paper would be issued on it.

It would be recalled that students of GHANASCO rioted on May 30 agai nst the ban of the use of mobile phones on campus by the school authorities. In the process, about three teacher's bungalows were vandalised whil e a motor bike belonging to one of the tutors was burnt. The police who were on campus to restore order in the school had the

windscreen of their armour vehicles crashed while 16 students were arrest ed.