Correspondence from Upper East:

Fire has destroyed a girls’ storey dormitory facility at the Paga Senior High School in the Kassena-Nankana West District, our Upper East Correspondent - Senyalah Castro, reports.

The Tuesday morning fire completely destroyed the roof of the structure, electrical components especially at the top floor, books, personal provisions and other belongings of the students.

What caused the inferno is yet to be established but school authorities told GhanaWeb it started around 7 am when the students were in class almost about to resume active academic work for the day.

Vitus Angkyier, Headmaster of the school, in an interview said the school management’s attention was drawn to the incident after students who were still in the block spotted smoke and later flames emanating from one side of the block.

He said calls were quickly made to the Ghana National Fire Service which responded immediately and prevented the fire from spreading and causing more destruction.

The Headmaster stated that an estimated 100 female students have been displaced by the fire, adding that there would be a challenge finding a place to keep them tonight. He continued that none of the students was hurt by the fire.

The District Chief Executive, Gerard Ataogye, who was at the scene to have first hand information of the incident, in a brief speech to management, staff and students urged calm as efforts are made to find immediate solutions to the problems created by the fire.

The DCE described the incident as unfortunate but was thankful to God none of the students was hurt.

He assured to cooperate with the school authorities, the regional and district directorate of the Ghana Education Service to address the problem.



Fire destruction causes more accommodation problems for school

The destruction of accommodation facility by the fire has further deepened the woes of the Paga SHS which already is struggling to get adequate dormitories for students.
Though it is a day school, management has tried to house students on campus so students can fully concentrate on their books to enhance effective academic work.

At some point in time, students had to share their sleeping space with foodstuff in a kitchen storeroom. That challenge was lessened barely a year and a half ago when that particular storey block [one destroyed by fire] was constructed and released to the school. It was converted into a Girls ‘dormitory by school authorities to address the accommodation challenge.

But with the destruction of it by fire, that could only mean the school will have to start all over again in its effort to find an adequate accommodation for the students.