Fire has razed through half of the girls’ dormitory of the Wa Islamic Senior High School at Busa in the Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region.
Bunk beds, trunks and other personal effects were destroyed in the blaze. The authorities of the school have asked the affected students to go home for a week to in order recover from the shock associated with their loss.
The Upper West regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih and his Deputy, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku as well as other officials were in the school to assess the situation.
The Headmaster of the Wa Islamic Senior High School, Alhassan Abudu Bafara who briefed the Regional Minister and his team about the incident also outlined some measures that have been put in place to manage the situation.
He said: “In the early hours of the morning around 7 o’clock, when all the students were in class, I was informed that there is a fire outbreak at the girls’ dormitory and we quickly rushed here and saw that it was intense. We immediately called the fire service and they came as early as possible and started the process of quenching the fire.”
“It took a very long time before actually it was subdued. Because most of them were actually not in the dormitories and were in class, at least, we are happy to say that there hasn’t been any casualty, but most of their property have been damaged, everything, some of them nothing left. So that is what happened this morning,” he narrated.
The Headmaster, Mr. Bafara continued that: “For now, we have asked that all students in this block should go home and return in a week’s time because of the trauma, especially most of them have gone through and then we put our heads together and see what we can do. But those who can’t go home have been asked to move to another block, a classroom block so that we see what we can do after meeting stakeholders.”
Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih described the incident as “sad”, saying: “In fact, information got to me this morning about this incident but I least expected the extent of damage. I thought it was just a room or two but for an entire dormitory to be burnt down, I least expected that. It is unfortunate and a sad situation. For now, I have told the headmaster to quickly write to the Minister for Education through my office so that immediately we see what can be done.”
“Interim, we are here to assess the situation, so that together we and the Municipal Chief Executive will put our minds together and see how we can come to the aid of the school,” Dr Bin Salih observed.
The Regional Minister equally had a word with the students to psyche them up.
He told them that: “We are here to empathise with you, so that you know that you are not in this difficulty alone. What has happened is unfortunate and as leaders, we are here to let you know that whatever it will take to bring that situation to normalcy, we shall do that.”
“That is why we have rushed here to access the situation so that the necessary measures will be put in place to remedy the situation. I want you to take heart, don’t let this affect your being here, don’t let it affect your studies,” Dr. Bin Salih advised.
On further measures to manage the difficulty, the Headmaster of the school told GBC’s Radio Ghana that there will be some adjustments including the relocation of science students from their classrooms to the science laboratory to make way for the affected students.
Story filed by Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo.
