14 Tumu SECTECH students in police grip for assaulting teacher

Fourteen students of the Tumu Senior High Technical School are assisting the police in investigate an assault on a male teacher of the school.

The students, who are currently on self-recognisance bail, are said to have assaulted the teacher, Mr Issah Ganiyu.

They appeared enraged when the 36-year-old teacher seized mobile phones from four of them after ‘lights out' after an entertainment session, and went physical on him.

The district directorate of the Ghana Education Service is currently engaging various stakeholders, including the police, parents, traditional authorities and the political administration, over the issue, following calls by a section of society to have the students dismissed.

Mr Ganiyu, the teacher, is said to be recovering from bodily pains and physical injuries.

Police

The Police Commander for the Sissala East District, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr Stephen Abanga, told the Daily Graphic that the students were all cooperating with the police in the investigations.

He said calm had returned to the school, but his men were still monitoring events closely.

He indicated that Mr Ganiyu, who was the teacher on duty at the time the students assaulted him, had gone round the dormitories to ensure that the students were protected.

He said the teacher heard some students talking during his rounds, and it turned out that they were speaking on phone.

ASP Abanga said Mr Ganiyu saw and seized four phones from the students, but they did not take kindly to the act, and massed up in their numbers to attack him.

According to him, the teacher had to escape from the grip of the incensed students, some of whom were armed with sticks and other weapons.

He said the 14 were those identified by the teacher as having participated in the assault on him, although some sources within the school have told the Daily Graphic that the number that attacked the teacher could be more.

Reactions on social media

Meanwhile, the public is enraged by the act of the students, with many posting their displeasure on social media and demanding their dismissal.

“Criminals, (they) should be sacked from public schools,” wrote one Baful Yakubu Juah on Facebook.

“This gross disrespect can scare other teachers from that school; those students should be dealt with,” Nagalwie Lutufia also wrote on Facebook.