Fire guts Wa Islamic SHS girls’ dormitory, displaces 205 students

The Wa Islamic Senior High School (SHS) girls’ dormitory, in the Upper West region, has been gutted by fire at the weekend, displacing 205 students.

The female students had their text books, exercise books, mattresses, food items and beds destroyed by the fire.

The dormitory, burnt by the fire, was a temporary one given to the female students, following a similar fire outbreak that razed the facility, on January 7, 2020.

Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku, who visited the school, said a committee would be set up to look into the fire outbreak and make recommendations, to forestall future occurrences.

He said there was fire outbreak at the school a few months ago, and did not rule out any foul play.

The headmaster of the school, Mohammed Bafara, who confirmed the latest incident, said the fire outbreak happened when the students were attending night classes.

He said ”After the first incident, we did a quick assessment to see whether there is risk on campus, which can bring any hazard. We even looked beyond fire, we looked at food poisoning, organised a training session with the vendors, kitchen staff just to ensure that nothing of that sort happens again”.

Mr Bafara said that 20 students, who were rushed to the hospital after the fire, have all been discharged.

A final-year student of the school, Shekira Regina, said they were in class when they heard their colleagues shouting 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, bedsheets, and our food have been consumed by the fire”, she said.