Tamale, Dec.6, GNA - The Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama has stated that the chieftaincy divide in Dagbon has been extended to secondary schools in the area, where some masters nurtured hatred and victimised students from the opposite divide.

He said: "Some Masters have taken entrenched positions on the Dagbon Chieftaincy divide and even mark down students because they belonged to the opposite side."

Alhaji Mahama said this when he addressed students of the Tamale Secondary School (TAMASCO) on Friday during an inspection tour of development projects in the area.

He said the practice was unfortunate, saying, "such Masters should be ashamed of themselves for nurturing hatred and spreading it among their students instead of uniting them".

The Vice President, who is a former student of the School, inspected a 2.2 billion-cedi one-storey girls' dormitory block under construction at the School.

Alhaji Mahama called on the students and the youth of Dagbon to champion the cause of peace for unity in Dagbon. He urged them to correct their parents when they went wrong, adding:

"At your level you should be able to differentiate between truth and lies".

The Vice President noted that there was too much ignorance, lies and hatred among the people and said this was bringing disunity and drawing back the development and progress of the area.

Alhaji Mahama advised the students to be disciplined and take their studies seriously so that they could acquire skills and knowledge that could help them to become important people, capable of assisting in the transformation of the society.

He expressed dissatisfaction about the position of the School on the rating on the performance of Senior Secondary Schools in the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations conducted by Ghana Education Service.

Alhaji Mahama reminded the students that TAMASCO had a pride and heritage that needed to be protected and urged them not to debase the enviable image that the school had curved for itself in the past. The Vice President also toured the Ghana Secondary School, in Tamale where he addressed the students and inspected an uncompleted boys' dormitory block.

He advised the students to refrain from engaging in chieftaincy maters and urged them to examine issues critically and work towards bringing peace to Dagbon.

Alhaji Mahama pledged to give the school 30 million cedis and 200 bags of cement for the rehabilitation of the water tanker vehicle and also to complete on-going projects in the school.

Mr Sherrif Baba, a former student and Ghana's Ambassador to Guinea, also pledged to give the school 10 million cedis to support the execution of projects.