Wenchi Methodist SHS to have weather station in memory of deceased students
The Wenchi Methodist Senior High School is to establish a weather station in memory of the 14 Geography students who perished in the recent Kintampo Waterfall incident in which 19 people died.
The Headmaster of the school, Mr Foster Antwi-Boateng, who announced this, said the school had never had a weather station since its inception and Geography students had to trek for about two kilometres to the Ghana Meteorological Agency at Wenchi in order to have a feel of how such a station worked.
“The situation has distracted our academic work and even paved way for truancy among students,” he stated.
Mr Antwi-Boateng made this known when he disbursed monies donated by a philanthropist to 26 families of students from the school who either died or sustained injuries during the disaster.
The incident occurred when a tree fell during a rainstorm and crushed the students and others from the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), Sunyani, who had gone to the site as part of their academic work.
Disbursement
It will be recalled that on March 30, 2017, Bishop Kofi Adonteng Boateng, Founder and General Overseer of Divine Word Ministry International based in Virginia, USA, and some members of the church in Ghana, presented $13,000 to the headmaster of the school for disbursement to the bereaved families of the Kintampo Waterfalls.
Bishop Adonteng and his team also presented assorted provisions to the students and teachers of the school.
Mr Boateng explained that the management of the school, board and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) had agreed to construct the weather station to remember the deceased and also provide an avenue for its students to monitor the weather.
The headmaster said the management of the school was only following instructions from the donor who directed that the amount should be disbursed to the 14 bereaved families and the 15 students who also got injured during the incident.
According to him, $1,000 out of the $13,000 was given to a tutor of the school who is still in hospital after undergoing surgery as a result of the incident, while the remaining $12,000 was converted into cedis for disbursement to the beneficiaries.
Each of the beneficiaries thus received GH¢1,000 while funds would be sought to add up to the remaining GH¢1,900.00 for the establishment of the weather station.
Some relatives of the deceased expressed their gratitude to the bishop for his kind gesture and called for measures to prevent the reoccurrence of such a disaster.
At a glance
The Wenchi Methodist Senior High School is to establish a weather station in the school in memory of the 14 Geography students who perished in the Kintampo Waterfall incident.