Jamra: 6 dead KG pupils to be buried today

The six kindergarten pupils who died on Tuesday at Breman Jamra in the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa after their school building collapsed on them are to be buried today, Thursday, February 2.

According to Kweku Marfo, a security man at the Our Lady of Grace Hospital who earlier broke the news of Tuesday’s incident to ClassFMonline.com, officials of the Ghana Education Service in the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa district, teachers, and bereaved parents have arrived at the mortuary to collect the bodies for burial.

He said a joint burial ceremony and rites will be observed Thursday morning for the six children at the cemetery prior to their interment. They were all between three and five years.

Three of the surviving children are still receiving treatment at the hospital.

Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Francis-Xavier Sosu has impressed on government to adequately compensate the families of six kindergarten pupils who died when their school building collapsed on them on Tuesday.

Mr Sosu, who expressed heartbreak at the accident, said nothing could replace the lives that have been lost but government must do the honourable thing to ease the pain of the affected families.

Mr Sosu, speaking to Moro Awudu on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Wednesday, 1 February, said: “The school as a facility owes a duty to the children and clearly that duty was negligently breached not only by the school but the state as an entity to protect these children in that facility.

“The state has the ultimate duty to compensate for the loss of lives of these children,” Mr Sosu said, adding that it was the duty of the District Assembly to ensure the building was safe for use.

For him, government must not wait for any legal action but should be proactive and show empathy with the bereaved families and also ensure that officials who are responsible for the safety of the facility are sanctioned.