Wa Secondary students under indefinite suspension

Twenty students of Wa Secondary School have been given indefinite suspension for spearheading a violent demonstration which led to the closure of the school last March. A total of 78 others have been surcharged with the cost of repair of damaged school property amounting to 994,000 cedis to be paid before being readmitted.

A source at the school told the Ghana News Agency on Thursday that parents and guardians of students being re-admitted were invited by the school authorities to accompany their children to school on 3 June.

They were made to sign bonds on behalf of their children to be of good behaviour. The headmaster, Mr. Moses Donneyong, told the GNA that the measures were part of the recommendations of a committee set up by the board of governors to investigate the riots.

He said the 20 students have been served with letters to stay out of the school pending a directive from the Ghana Education Service (GES). "Their dismissal is beyond my authority. I have to get directive from Accra before I can do that," he said to clarify an earlier statement that the ringleaders would not be accepted back.

Last month, the Upper West Regional directorate of the GES gave all the 1,144 students up to 15 May to re-apply for admission. The school was closed down on mach 19 after a violent demonstration against a tutor of the school by a section of the students who vandalized his residence and destroyed the school's Bedford truck and a motorbike.