By Kodjo Adams
Accra, March 18, GNA – Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Education, says the government is working to provide temporary accommodation for students affected by the fire at Labone Senior High School in Accra.
He said the immediate plan is to arrange temporary accommodation for the girls while the damaged dormitory is repaired.
The Minister disclosed this following his visit to the school after the fire incident on March 16, 2025.
He also revealed plans to establish an emergency fund to address challenges posed by fire outbreaks and other natural disasters in schools.
“We intend to apply our emergency allocation of our budget to fix that.
“We are sure that Labone Secondary School, Northern School of Business in Tamale, and a school in Akrokkeri in the Ashanti Region, which was hit by a rainstorm, will benefit from our emergency intervention.
“What this means is that the government must have a dedicated emergency fund under the Ghana Education Service budget to be able to respond timeously to some of these unpredictable natural and human occurrences,” he said.
Mr. Iddrisu expressed concern over uncompleted projects on the school’s campus and assured that they would be completed.
The fire, which occurred on Sunday, March 16, 2025, destroyed one dormitory completely and partially damaged two others, while students were attending afternoon prep.
According to the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), 155 students have been relocated to an extension of the girls’ dormitory.
Additional space was created on the ground floor of the undamaged dormitories, while some students were housed in one of the head teacher’s bungalows.
Mrs. Vera Akpakli, the Assistant Headmistress Domestic, told the GNA that students traumatised by the fire have been counselled.
She said that some parents had removed their children from the school, despite it being in session.
Mrs. Akpakli also noted that the Minister of Education, Municipal Director, Regional Director, and Member of Parliament had all visited to offer support.
She called for enhanced security and additional dormitories to accommodate the school’s over 4,000 students.
“We have over one thousand-day students who wish to be boarders, but due to insufficient dormitories, we cannot house all of them,” she said.
Meanwhile, the GNFS has begun investigating the cause of the fire.
Assistant Divisional Officer (ADO) Alex King Nartey of the GNFS Public Relations team said, “We have commenced full investigations to ascertain the cause of the fire. Fortunately, no injuries have been reported, and the displaced students have been relocated temporarily.”
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