The timely intervention of the military last Monday saved human lives and property when students of the Bawku Secondary School (BAWSCO) and the Bawku Technical Institute (BAWTECH) clashed.

School authorities told the GNA on Tuesday that a misunderstanding between a student of BAWSCO and another from BAWTECH at a record dance last Saturday night at the secondary school, had by Monday escalated into the clash.

Meanwhile a curfew from 9PM to 4 AM had been imposed on the two schools by the military to ensure the safety of students of the two schools, which are situated on the opposite sides of the Bawku-Bolgatanga highway.

Mr Ibrahim Atabugum, Assistant Headmaster of BAWSCO said the fighting started around midnight on Sunday June 22 and continued till four o'clock in the morning of Monday June 23. He stated that five out of seven male students from the school who sustained injuries and admitted at the Bawku Presbyterian hospital had been discharged leaving Inusah Osman and Yakubu Abdul Rhaman, still on admission.

Mr Atabugum said a Ghana Telecom telephone booth at the school, a borehole, an electric transformer and a number of louvre blades in the Girls' Dormitory and some classrooms were destroyed, but the transformer had been repaired.

The Assistant Headmaster stated that seven students from the school and 20 from Bawtech had been detained by the Police to assist in investigations.

Mr Samuel K. Lartey, Acting Principal of BAWTECH, said a number of students from the Institute were admitted at the Hospital but had been discharged leaving one, Ofosu Daniel, who was responding to treatment. He said but for the timely arrival of the military, the building housing some vital equipment and machines at the Institute would have been destroyed, adding that, the roofing sheet of some workshops were damaged.

The structure housing a corn mill was "battered with stones in an attempt to get to the mill," the Acting Principal said. Both Mr Atabugum and Mr Lartey could not immediately give an estimate of the damage and praised the military personnel for the swift manner they brought the situation under control.