Why shut down Bright SHS – Concerned Old students
The Old Students Association of Bright Senior High School is unhappy with calls to shut down the school over disturbances that erupted during the ongoing examinations.
The old students, in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Doku Edmund Koranteng, argued that the “unfortunate and really disturbing incident cannot be used as a perfect ground to justify demand for closure of the school.”
According to the old students, there is no evidence to support the claim that it was the students who started the brawl that led to some invigilators and journalists being injured at the examination centre.
The statement is a response to a demand by the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council to have the Bright SHS closed down for misconduct.
But the old students insisted that there is no justification to close down the school.
“To put forth our stance, there is no justification for the statement made by the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council. In point of fact, Bright Senior High School has graduands from various tertiary institutions in the country and across the world.
“We the old students are in the most prestigious universities in and across the country, reading the toughest courses in these institutions, and yet we are excelling. Talk of those studying in China, Russia and United States of America,” the statement said.
Ever since the disturbances broke out in the school located at Kukurantumi in the Eastern Region, there has been a shadow of doubt cast over the credibility of the certificates that are churned out from the school.
To clear doubts, the old students said those arguments are well structured statements to throw dust into the eyes of the general public about the image of the school.
“How possibly could students from Bright SHS make it through the entrance examinations and interviews conducted before admission in most tertiary schools like nursing, medicine and others?,” they quizzed.
The old students, therefore, called on the public to treat the statement by Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council with the contempt it deserve.
“We want to make it clear to the general public that the statement made by Akyem-Abuakwa Traditional Council is a sheer grammatical construction, hence need not to be considered.”
The statement copied to the Education Minister, the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, WAEC boss and the Eastern Regional Police Command, also condemned the behaviour of the students.
They gave the assurance that such incidents will not be repeated again.
The council’s argument
The Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council in a statement issued on Monday, August 10, 2020 called for the immediate closure of Bright Senior High School for allegedly perpetrating fraud in examinations over the years.
The Traditional Council, headed by Okyenehene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, also called for the prosecution of the Proprietor of the School, Bright Amponsah.
Background
On August 6, 2020, over 1000 final year students of Bright SHS, who were writing their exit exams, WASSCE, went on rampage attacking invigilators and journalists who had visited the school.
A viral video captured the proprietor of the school allegedly ordering his students to stop writing the exams.
They had protested strict exams supervision by the WAEC invigilators.
The students reportedly pounced on the WAEC supervisors wielding knives, sticks, and compasses and beat them till they sustained various degrees of injuries.
The rampaging students also chased and beat a Daily Graphic reporter to a pulp when he visited the school to report on riots which had characterized the day’s paper.
West Africa Examination Council subsequently moved the examination centre from the premises of Bright SHS to the Ofori Panyin SHS following the incident.
Bright Amponsah, the proprietor of Bright Senior High School was arrested a day after the incident.
The arrest followed his alleged endorsement of the beating of WASSCE invigilators and journalists by some final year students of the school.
The examination council said it has begun a probe into allegations of exam malpractices and would not hesitate to sanction the students if found culpable.
In a related development, the Ghana Education Service (GES) also dismissed 14 students from five SHSs for engaging in similar acts of vandalism when they accused supervisors of being firm during the ongoing WASSCE.
GES as part of the sanctions also barred the 14 students from continuing with their final exams.
But President Akufo-Addo has intervened and asked the GES to reconsider its decision to ban the students from writing their final exams.
According to him, the students, just like everyone deserve a second chance in life.