Bolgatanga, June 11, GNA - A committee the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Mark Woyongo, set up to investigate clashes between students of the Bawku Technical Institute and the Bawku Senior High School (BSHS) has presented its findings to the him. The clashes, which occurred on April 05, led to the destruction of property belonging to the two schools and students from both schools sustained injuries.

Its term of reference was to determine the immediate and remote causes of the disturbances, find out perpetrators, assess and quantify the extent of damage caused to property, find out whether there were casualties and who were responsible. It was to recommend measures and ways of preventing future occurrences.

The committee found that properties of both schools were destroyed by students from the two schools. Property destroyed belonging to Bawku Technical stood at 8,943.00 and BSHS, 1,078.98 Ghana cedis. The Committee said the initiators of the disturbances were six students from the Bawku Technical Institute. It named them as Maurice, a second year Plumbing student, Edward Kodabalogo, a first year Plumbing student, Rashid Bukari, a second year Electrical student.

The rest are Kadri Osman, Painting and Decorations student, Foster Ayamga, a third year Auto student and Sani Mohammed a second year Motor Vehicle Mechanics student. The committee also found that some students from BSHS were also involved in retaliatory attacks. They include Abdul Samed Mahama a third year student, Denis Ayamga, a first year Visual Arts student and Awinaba Sulemana Abdula Ganim, a second year Visual Arts student. The rest are Badiwonehit Yizanbazor John, a third year Business student and Simon Zong and Ayimolga, first year Business students.

The Committee recommended that Maurice Kagua, Foster Ayamga, Edward Kodabalgo, Kadrio Oman and Rashid Bukari of the Bawku Technical Institute be summarily dismissed for their active role in the clash. Abdul Saamed, Danis Ayamga, Awinaba Sulemana Abdul-Ganim, Ayamolga Samson, Badiwomehit Yizanbazor John and Simon Zong of the BSHS are to be suspended for one month each and should be dismissed from the boarding house for stripping Nsoh Raymond naked during the clash. A second year Home Economics student of BSHS and Nsoh Raymond of Bawku Technical Institute should also be suspended for one month each and dismissed from the boarding house for sitting together at the BSHS common market at an odd hour.

The findings recommended that Guidance and Counselling activities of both schools should be intensified while entertainment programmes of the two schools should close at the same time. School rules and regulations should be adhered to in the two schools particularly during the evening. The committee said school authorities should draw the attention of the security agencies at anytime there were rumours of an attack on each other.

Both schools should be surcharged for the cost of the damage done and there should be occasional surprise checks in dormitories to look for offensive weapons and teachers who were scheduled to be on duty on the day of the clash should be reprimanded for negligence. The report said school authorities should have confidence to query tutors who fail to perform their duties. Senior Masters should make sure that masters who are put on duty really work and ensure that their weekly reports are up to date.

The Upper East Regional Coordinating Council decided not to dismiss the five students of the Bawku Technical Institute as proposed by the committee and said the decision was to ensure that the said students' future were protected.

They would however be suspended for one year each after which they would be readmitted to continue with their studies. The Regional Minister said the council was satisfied with the committee's findings and asked that the recommendations be implemented to the letter by the school authorities and other agencies to which the assignment had been given.

Mr. Woyongo said Bawku currently was volatile and the government was doing its best to calm down the situation and would not therefore allow students to fight over baseless issues. "Why should we allow parents in town to be fighting whilst at the sometime the children are also fighting?" he asked.

The committee said there was no remote cause of the clash. It established that the immediate causes were that two students of the Bawku Technical Institute fought on the grounds of BSHS apparently over a girl friend.

This angered the BSHS students who did not take kindly to the students from another school using their compound as a theatre for violence.

The BSHS students therefore chased them out and at one stage pelted them with stones. On reaching their campus, they also mobilized their colleagues and went to the Bawku Senior High School borehole and attacked students there.

The BSHS victims reported the incident to their compatriots who also organized and went to the boreholes but unfortunately for them did not meet the Bawku Technical Institute Students. However, on their return to campus, they spotted a Bawku Technical student chatting with a girl from BSHS and assaulted her.