Simon Osei-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister
WILD RUMOURS that several students of the Islamic High School, situated on the main Kumasi-Barekese Highway, have been knocked by speeding vehicles in front of the school, is a hoax.
This latest revelation was made public by the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, who was addressing some selected journalists in Kumasi on Tuesday afternoon.
“The Islamic Senior High School, the initial information that came out that several students of the school have been knocked down by vehicles was false. That information was a lie.
“We checked that by two years, and from Abrepo Junction up to Kumasi Girls SHS, even though there have been accidents where some people were knocked down, not one involved a student,” he clarified.
The Ashanti Regional Minister’s latest revelation has rubbished wild rumours by some students of the Islamic High School who alleged that car knockdowns involving their students was rampant.
As a reminder, angry students of the Islamic High School in Kumasi blocked the main Abrepo Junction to Barekese Highway in protest over what they claimed to be frequent vehicular knockdowns of students of the school last year.
Such illegal action of the students led to a confrontation between the students and armed policemen, who were dispatched to the place to dispel the student protestors in order to ensure law and order on the road.
The police, reportedly, fired tear gas and about 40 students sustained injuries. They were rushed to the hospital for medical attention.
The IGP, George Akuffo Dampare, even visited the Islamic High School to restore normalcy there.
But the Ashanti Region Minister has stated that “Even though the risk of cars knocking down a student was there; it wasn’t true that students of the Islamic High School were being knocked down by cars.”
According to him, no available records prove what the students alleged at the time, saying that it was rather a female teacher of the school, whose car was involved in an accident, whilst leaving the school campus.
“A female teacher of the Islamic High School was joining the main road from the school and her car was hit by another vehicle but no student has been knocked down by a vehicle as rumoured around,” he emphasised.
Meanwhile, authorities have announced that in two weeks’ time, rumble strips would be constructed in front of the Islamic High School to help control the speed of vehicles on the road and help protect lives and properties.
They explained that the rumble strips would precede a Zebra crossing in front of the school and this would help make the road safe for both commuters and pedestrians.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi