500 St. Charles SHS students sent home over fire disaster

Students of the St. Charles Mini Seminary Senior High School at Tamale in the Northern region have been ordered to go home for a week following a fire incident Tuesday night that caused massive damage to a 23 room complex dormitory structure housing 504 (Five Hundred and Four) learners.

The decision was taken on Wednesday by school authorities in consultation with the Regional Education Directorate after the facility was hugely devastated by the fire which engulfed it when students were on preps.

The headmaster Mr. Polycarp Kuusokub Beverlle who announced the directive said students were to use the period to prepare themselves. It was also to give students who lost completely their items the leverage to purchase them.

By the directive, only form one and two students were asked to go home for the one week period and form three students affected in the incident were only given a day to return back to campus to begin their final exam.

According to headmaster, the school will provide the affected students with some basic needs before they leave to their various houses.

The regional education director, Mr. Mohammed Harun who was there to sympathise with the students said the directorate will provide hundred (100) mini mattresses to the affected students.

The headmaster added that students were to adhere strictly to the directive and suggested recalcitrants will be sanctioned.

“The continuing students will go home from today and report 28th so that you will be able to pick some few things and report back for us to continue the term. Then, the final year students, this afternoon we have a paper so those who are not writing but are affected, you can go today and come back tomorrow. Those who are affected but are writing today, we will let you reach out to your parents and at least get some few items to come back.

“You will follow exactly what I have told you. If you are not affected don’t worry yourself to go; get ready and prepare your exams {sic)”, Mr. Polycarp announced.

Investigation has been launched by the fire service to unravel the cause of the disaster after taking several hours to stop the fire from spreading to other structures.

However, preliminary findings as hinted by the regional fire service spokesman Opoku Aikins suggested faulty electrical gadgets and illegal wirings by students were not ruled out as cause of the fire.

“Looking at the fuses, one out of the three fuses has so many things around it which means they had been some connections or usage of electricity that should have broken the fuse and the fuse did not break…looking at it meaning there was some dining going on within the fuse. The original fuse is not within meaning they had been a connection within”, Mr. Aikins told students and management.

This is the second time fire has damaged the building and in both incidents no casualty has been recorded.

Some students who spoke to Starr News said the fire started around 9pm at the top floor and quickly spread to other rooms consuming completely all items in the about 24 rooms.

All the students of the Three Houses occupying the structure were studying in classrooms when the incident occurred and nothing was salvaged.

They are calling for extension of the break citing the magnitude of damage caused to their belongings.

“It sounds abnormal. Going home for six days when we come here it will be worse. We are thinking, when we come back where are we going to stay?” an affected student quizzed.