Students of Kumasi Girls’ Senior High School in the Ashanti Region insist they were subjected to severe beatings by a police-military team that was deployed to maintain order on campus after they staged a protest.
The students on Monday expressed their displeasure following an order from the Ghana Education Service for them to stay at school due to the spike in COVID cases despite an earlier directive of a mid-semester break.
The soldiers reportedly broke into their locked dormitories, pulled them out, and hit them with sticks.
A student in an interview on Ghana Kasa on Kasapa FM recounted her ordeal: “We were shouting in our dormitories when the soldiers entered the room after 9pm while we were in our nightgowns and started beating whoever they found with sticks. Whether you were sleeping on your bed or not you were beaten. Some of us sustained injuries. We don’t understand why soldiers will do such a thing to us, the claim that soldiers didn’t assault is false.”
Another student said” We had locked our room but two soldiers forced their way through and started beating us. We told them we had done nothing wrong but they said when a problem comes the innocent ones always suffer. They beat and stepped on some of us leaving some of us injured and were rushed to the clinic. What the soldiers did was very bad.”
Meanwhile, The Ashanti Regional Police Command has denied reports that its officers assaulted the students.
The Police in a statement said the reports circulating in the media do not reflect the true state of occurrences at the schools.
“To those Media Houses who have published these false stories, The Command would be grateful if you go back to the Schools and ascertain the true facts. We are also aware of some false videos purported to be that of the incident and advice the publisher to take these down or else, Command shall subject them to strict proof and failing, we shall take the necessary actions available.”
