On Friday, 12th August 2022, around 4am, the school chaplain and counsellor, Rev. Fr. Addo Fordjour received a call from the Kumasi Central Police Station informing him of an alleged robbery incident involving three students of Opoku Ware School. The report had it that two boys who claimed to be students of OWASS had been brought to their custody for allegedly snatching a taxi cap at gun point.
After the headmaster was informed, a delegation, comprising the Assistant headmaster (Administration), Assistant headmaster (Domestic), the school chaplain and counsellor and the senior housemaster and his deputy were sent to the police station to identify whether or not the boys were students of OWASS. When the boys were brought for identification, it came out that they were indeed students of OWASS. They were Akwasi Adu Donkor (BY 2), and Owusu Appiah Raphael (BY 664). The third suspect who had absconded was identified as Asubonteng Osei Kwadwo (BY 76).
It is on record that the three suspects had been withdrawn from the boarding house. Akwasi Adu Donkor and Asubonteng Osei Kwadwo were withdrawn from the boarding house on the same day for the following offences:
Breaking bounds at night
Wearing unprescribed attire in the school
Fighting in the school
After this, both students have been habitual absentees and Adu Donkor was reported to the headmaster by his English teacher, Mr. Agyemang Duah Bismark. His parents were subsequently called to bring the boy to school and he was warned to desist from such acts.
Asubonteng Osei Kwadwo on the other hand was brought to the Disciplinary Committee again for assaulting a fellow student and he was punished for that.
Owusu Appiah Raphael was also withdrawn from the boarding house for stealing on countless occasions from his colleagues at the dormitory. After this incident, he and other four students appeared before the D.C. for wrongful entry into someone’s house at TUC. He has also been hiding in the dormitory despite his withdrawal from the boarding house. The day before his arrest, he was brought to the D.C. for stealing tins of sardines at the dining hall and causing mayhem during supper time even though he was a day student and did not have the right to eat supper at the school.
Every attempt by the school authority to reform these boys has proved futile. Their parents have been invited to the school on several occasions to discuss the behavior of their wards with them. It is sad to report that the father of Raphael Owusu Appiah insulted the then Assistant headmaster, Mr. Akwasi Oduro Boateng and nearly fought him. He claimed the Assistant headmaster hated his son and wanted him to be withdrawn from the school.
The school authorities were, therefore, sad that these boys did not take heed to the advice given to them. We would like to state emphatically that the boys are our students but at the time the incident occurred, they had closed from school and were supposed to be in the custody of their parents.
REPORT BY:
MR. AGYEMANG DUAH BISMARK
(SECRETARY, DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE)