-In gala day competition
A school's gala is usually meant to celebrate successful completion of another year's existence, rejoice, implement extra curriculum activities, and eventually point to the future in a bid to attract outsiders.
But Giddings Polytechnic Academy in Kakata, Margibi County commemorated its first gala here differently, parading with a mock casket in the streets of Kakata that caused public stir.
Amongst several groups established for the gala day, the administration of the school included a cult, directly replicating a 2000 Nigerian film titled "Last Burial", a movie in which a man introduced to an occult by his friends to end his suffering died and created more problems for the cult after enjoying for years besides initiating human sacrifice while he was alive.
In the movie, members of the cult also parade with casket of the dead man.
At Giddings Polytechnic Academy in Kakata, members of the group that represented the cult at the first gala were dressed up in black and red as they carried a casket draped in white and yellow colors.
The casket made out of cartoons was paraded shoulder high by group members with a living body inside, the NEW DAWN gathered.
But the Ministry of Education, through the Margibi County School System with immediate effect, suspended the school's operational permit and invited the administration for investigation.
The Chief Executive Officer of Giddings Polytechnic Academy, Sekou Kanneh, apologized for the action when the ministry engaged them, but Mr. Kanneh also expressed disappointment for the action taken against his school.
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Some residents of Margibi say the school didn't teach any moral lessons because issues related to caskets are negative.
Callers on Radio Margibi, a community radio station in Kakata said the school is wrong for parading with a casket and must be punished by the ministry, while others criticized the ministry's action of immediately suspending the school's operational permit, a decision they term as harsh.
The school is however being investigated for further action by the ministry.
As of the last academic calendar, schools in Kakata have engaged in a competition in determining the institution with the best gala day activities.
And so, every school in Kakata has been innovating extra performances that will supersede its competitors.
Lango Lappaye High School, which is a government-operated school, also paraded during their past gala day with a group called "ISSHAKABA", the name of a 2001 Nigerian movie.
The Ministry of Education is being lambasted in the county for not taking action against Lango Lappaye like it has done with Giddings Polytechnic Academy and to be willing to act against all schools that contravene policy governing operation of schools in the country.
