By Samuel Yaokumah
Akropong-Akuapem (E/R), Sept. 14, GNA – The Eastern Regional office of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has donated relief items worth thousands of cedis to Okuapemman Senior High School following the recent destruction of parts of the school’s facilities.
The items were received by the Headmaster of Okuapemman Senior High School, Rev. Richard Afari, at the school’s premises.
The donation included 150 student mattresses, 40 packets of roofing sheets, 50 bags of 25kg rice, 300 plastic cups, 150 blankets, 300 plastic bowls, 200 sanitary pads, 20 cartons of cooking oil and 50 cartons of toilet soap.
Mr Teddy Addy Safori, the Deputy Director-General in charge of Operations at NADMO Ghana, said he was deeply pained and disturbed when he heard about the incident.
He condemned the incident as a heinous act of hooliganism and said, as an old student of Okuapemman School and an officer at the NADMO Regional Office, he felt compelled to intervene.
Mr Safori said he received calls from the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), the headmaster and the Okuapemman Old Students’ Association following the incident. He subsequently visited the school to assess the extent of the damage.
He explained that NADMO, in collaboration with the old students’ association, was supporting efforts to rehabilitate the affected facilities and replace some of the items destroyed in the incident.
Mr Safori pledged to return to the school when it reopens to engage with the students, advise them and share his experiences as an old student.
He urged the students to make good use of their time, take their studies seriously and strive for academic success.
Receiving the items, Rev. Afari expressed appreciation to NADMO and the old students’ association for their benevolence and support.
Earlier, in a solemn briefing, the headmaster explained that the incident began as an unnecessary altercation between students of the two schools, which escalated into the students pelting one another with stones.
According to him, the confrontation started on August 31 and continued through Monday and Tuesday before some students resorted to setting school buildings and property ablaze, resulting in damage estimated at millions of cedis.
The relief items were first handed over jointly to the Municipal Chief Executive and the NADMO office in the Akuapem North Municipality before being presented to Okuapemman Senior High School, where they were received by the headmaster.
GNA
Editing by D.I. Laary/Kenneth Odeng Adade