18 Students Collapse At Agona Nkwanta
EIGHTEEN SENIOR and Junior High School students collapsed at Agona Nkwanta in the Ahanta West District of the Western Region during this year’s Independence Day celebration.
They were given immediate first aid while five were rushed to Agona Ahanta Health Centre, where they were treated and discharged.
The physique of the students, comprising four girls and 14 boys, could not withstand the heat from the sun and two hours of standing “at ease”, though all of them claimed that they took heavy food that morning before the parade.
The victims, who after being revived declined to mention their names, on grounds that their fellow students would tease them at school, suggested that the parade should begin at 8am next year because the scorching sun made some of them feel dizzy.
Others also suggested that after the march past, the Ahanta West District Assembly should allow the students from primary to senior high schools to be seated on chairs under a canopy to prevent some of them from collapsing.
“Some of us don’t have strong legs, while others have headache when we stand in the sun for over one hour, so some of us collapsed in the process”, a 15-year-old girl from a second-cycle institution told DAILY GUIDE.
The District Chief Executive of Ahanta West, Joseph Dofoyenah, in an address told the gathering that the time was ripe for the nation to re-focus on key priorities using new and innovative ideas that would give quick solutions to challenges confronting the people.
‘The time has come for us as Ghanaians, after 56 years of independence, to do away with the old and unproductive methods of doing things and adopt a paradigm shift that provides an opportunity to ‘think outside the box’, be innovative in our collective effort in building a new and better Ghana,” he stressed.
He said Ghanaians should collectively work together to maintain the current peace and stability in order to advance the hopes and aspirations of the citizenry, despite a pending Supreme Court case on the outcome of the 2012 general elections.
Mr Dofoyenah advised the students to be guided by the values of honesty, truthfulness, humility, faithfulness, high moral standards and also entreated them to study hard.
He called on teachers, parents, community leaders and other stakeholders in education to strategize effectively to help improve upon the current poor BECE results in the district, adding, “Very soon, an educational forum will be organized by the district assembly to deliberate on educational matters and the way forward”.
The District Coordinating Director, Alhaji J. M. Hardi, in an interview said the assembly had adopted a special formula aimed at improving its internally generated fund.
He said the Ahanta West District Assembly had also decentralized the Independence Day celebration to the area councils and circuits so that many people could participate in the event.
He said the assembly would in future reduce the number of participating schools on Independence Day and alternate the schools yearly to reducing collapsing.
FROM Sam Mark Essien, Agona Nkwanta
