Committee to probe Aggrey Memorial School incident

A special committee is to investigate the incident at the Aggrey Memorial School in Cape Coast on 17 March when male students attacked their female counterparts during an evening church service.

The committee, comprising both teaching and non-teaching staff of the school, has Rev Wereko, Chaplain, in charge of Guidance and Counseling, as Chairman. Its terms of reference include establishing the causes of the incident, identifying those involved and recommending to the board of the school actions to take against the culprits.

Disclosing these to the Ghanaian Times in an interview on Sunday, a source close to the school hinted that students found to be involved in the incident would either be dismissed or punished depending on the gravity of the offence that they committed. The source stated that the culprits would be punished in accordance with the rules and regulations of the school and the Ghana Education Service.

It is recalled that the female students of the school were subjected to severe flogging by their male colleagues at a Sunday evening service. The reason? The boys were angry with the girls for fratenizing with boys from Adisadel College, during their 12th annual regional athletics competition held on 15 March.

In carrying out the act, they first switched off the lights during the service, pounced on the girls with sticks and belts, which they had taken to the service hidden in their cloths. Some of the girls, in their attempt to flee the assault, fell down and sustained various degrees of injuries. A few fell unconscious.

About 50 of them were treated and discharged while two were admitted at the Central Regional Hospital. Doctors said that most of the girls had ?muscle contusion and pain in the chest due to blunt trauma.?

But the Headmaster of the Aggrey Memorial School, Mr Kwasi Appiah-Danquah, broke the silence after six weeks and admitted that the incident took place. He had to be probed by a local FM station to admit it, after initially denying the story.

The Aggrey boys had warned their girls not to take part in the competition but they refused to heed the warning. On their return from the competition, the Aggrey boys, offended by the action of their female counterparts, decided to instill discipline in them. They first prevented the girls from prep and dining and lashed at them during an evening service. Most of the girls refused to attend classes throughout the week for fear of being beaten again by the boys.