Photos: Wa Islamic SHS gutted by fire again

For the second time in five weeks, the Wa Islamic Senior High School’s (SHS) girls dormitory has been gutted by fire. The female students had their test and exercise books, mattresses, food and beds destroyed by the fire.

The dormitory burnt by the fire was a temporary dormitory given to the girls following a similar fire that gutted their dormitory on January, 7, 2020.  Some 205 girls of the school have now been displaced.

Headmaster of the school, Mohammed Bafara, disclosed that the incident happened when the students were attending night classes.

A final year student of the school, Shekira Regina, said they were in class when they heard their colleagues shouting and crying for help.

”We even thought there was somebody chasing them but before we realised there was fire all over. We lost everything to the fire. Our text and exercise books, mattresses, bed sheets and our food were consumed by the fire,” she said.

Though school authorities have not asked them to go home,  she said it would be difficult for them especially those who are in their final year. “We cannot go home and come back. There is no time on our side,” she added.

Headmaster of the school, Mohammed Bafara, was shocked about the incident: ”After the first incident, we did a quick assessment to see whether they are risky things on campus which could cause any disaster.

“We even looked beyond fire, we looked at food poisoning ,organized session with the vendors, kitchen staff making sure that nothing of that sort should happen.  We even conduct more inspections at the dormitories now than before, but unfortunately we are recovering from the first and this thing just happened,” he added.

Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku, who visited the school said a committee will be set up to look into the issue and proffer recommendations to forestall future occurrences of such incidents of fire in the school.

He said the 205 students, who were affected by the first inferno, are the same affected again and he cannot rule out any foul play.

Source: Joy News| Rafik Salam