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Ghana: The Death At Adisadel College
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Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)
EDITORIAL
19 March 2008
Posted to the web 19 March 2008
Ghanaians woke up on Monday, this week, to hear a rather sordid news about the death of a final year student of Adisadel College, Master Mustapha Gafaru, in Cape Coast.
Various accounts given by the media suggest that the boy jumped down from the last floor of one of the classroom blocks under construction to ostensibly escape from punishment by the Senior House Master of the school.
The fact has also been made known that Gafaru, who is a Moslem failed to attend church service and decided to go and study with another group of boys in the classroom. Upon hearing that the Senior House master was approaching, and fearing the consequences of their actions, the boys decided to run and Gafaru tried an escape route which led to his untimely death. Following this sordid news, the students have decided to take the law into their own hands which resulted in disturbances on the campus. As a result, the Central Regional Security Council decided to close down the school to protect life and property.
So far, debate on the death has been centered on whether students have the right to practice their own individual faith, irrespective of the officially accepted religious affiliation of the school they are attending. The issue has become topical and some notable Politicians as well as some Ghanaians have joined the fray, and are calling for a full-scale investigation into the incident. Though Chronicle agrees with those calling for investigations into the case, the issue must be handled cautiously so that the situation does not escalate. We are raising this alarm because if the committee that would investigate the issue comes out with reports that the boy died as a result of his refusal to attend church service, which faith he does not share in, it could spark off religious conflict.
The Senior House master can also not be blamed entirely about the death of Gafaru because so far there is no evidence to suggest that he was aiming only at Gafaru for refusing to attend church service. He had seen some of the students upstairs and was only going to instill discipline in the boys. What happened at the Adisadel College is an unfortunate incident, especially when Gafaru's parents have invested in their son's education. We, however, think that we should let sleeping dogs lie, just as Gafaru's father has himself forgiven the school authorities.
The Chronicle is happy that the father of Gafaru, Mr. Abdul Rahman, is kicking against any investigation into the case. Despite such a painful loss, he has decided to let sleeping dogs lie. He has also made it clear that he bears no grudge against the staff of the school because to him no amount of vengeance would bring his son back to life.
Mr. Rahman has indeed shown maturity in the matter, even though he could have called for investigations or even gone to court as is being suggested from certain quarters. He has also demonstrated great love for mother Ghana and Chronicle congratulates him for that. Whilst calling for restraint in the matter, The Chronicle will also like to call on school authorities to put measures in place to avoid future occurrence of this unfortunate incident.
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Our school authorities have the duty to instill discipline in our youth under their care , but that does not mean that they should turn themselves to 'leopards' to terrorise the students so much as to create fear and not respect for authority.
I totally disagree of your stand that no investigation should take place.First of all,even though his father has "forgiven" the school,the public and the state as that matter has a statke in this situation where an individual lost his life for not attending church because he has a different faith.Let's assume he is a christian,does he have to go to church if he does not want to?What does the Ghananian constitution say about freedom of worship? I am saddened and disppointed for your premises for arguing against investigation.I would suggest an apolitical investigation free of political machination. Thanks Abdul-Aziz Alhassan,MD... [Read Full Text]
I totally disagree of your stand that no investigation should take place.First of all,even though his father has "forgiven" the school,the public and the state as that matter has a statke in this situation where an individual lost his life for not attending church because he has a different faith.Let's assume he is a christian,does he have to go to church if he does not want to?What does the Ghananian constitution say about freedom of worship? I am saddened and disppointed for your premises for arguing against investigation.I would suggest an apolitical investigation free of political machination. Thanks Abdul-Aziz Alhassan,MD... [Read Full Text]
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