Police commence investigation into assault on three teachers

The Northern Regional Police Command has commenced investigation into the alleged assault on the headmaster of Nyohini Junior High School Block B and two others in the Tamale Metropolis last Thursday by some unidentified men.

This comes three days after various teacher unions in the metropolis boycotted academic activities and petitioned the Metro Education Directorate and the police to ensure that the perpetrators are apprehended and punished.

The Northern Regional Police Crime Officer, Superintendent Baba Ananga, in an interview with the Daily Graphic said the headteacher reported the attack on his office to the police and they had since begun a manhunt for the suspects.

He indicated that the police were working very hard to fish out the perpetrators, noting that “we trying to identify those people and then ask the headteacher and also get members of the community as well to assist in investigation.”

Incident

Narrating the incident to the Daily Graphic, the headteacher of Nyohini Junior High School Block, Reverend Lawrence Yiripari, who was assaulted, said: “They quickly entered my office, held my smock and started slapping me, without any provocation”.

He added that the well-built men, after subjecting him to several slaps, dragged him out of his office to the school compound in the full glare of students and colleague teachers and continued to assault him.

“Apart from putting my life in danger, as I didn’t know what will happen next, it was very embarrassing as the students came out to watch what was happening.

“None of the attackers said anything and I don’t know what caused it,” Reverend Yiripari said.

Motive

The Spokesperson for the Conference of Heads of Basic Schools in Tamale, Mr Bismarck Kwando Ampomah, said though the motive behind the attack was immediately unknown, they suspected some teachers in the school were behind the act.

“We realised that it had to do with the mass internal transfer done by the directorate somewhere in November last year. We believe that these teachers are resisting these transfers and because they cannot come out openly to cause such harm, they have influenced the community to come in because the mindset is that the headteacher is causing the transfers,” he noted.

Strike

In solidarity with the victims, teachers in the metropolis have since boycotted academic activities.

According to them, until the culprits were brought to book, they would not return to school as their safety was not guaranteed.

They maintained that aside from the assault on the teachers, a number of headteachers in the metropolis had received several threats on their lives for some time now, which must be looked into by authorities as a matter of urgency.

Meanwhile, all pleas by the Northern Regional Director of the GES, Dr Peter Attafuah, for the aggrieved teachers to return to school as authorities investigate the matter have not been accepted.