Agogo State College Riots Condemned

The Ashanti Regional Students Representative Council (SRC), has condemned the protest by students of the Agogo State College.

Last week, students of the Agogo State College in the Asante Akyem North District of the Ashanti Region were asked to go home following rioting by some students.

Over 30 students were arrested after they protested over water crisis and power cuts, and ended up vandalizing some school property in the process.

The Ashanti Regional Students Representative Council has therefore admonished students to use the right structures in getting their complaints addressed rather than resorting to violent protests.

Ashanti Regional SRC President, Raphael Sarkodie, told Citi News the incident was very unfortunate.

“If these things happen, it weakens our fight to emancipate students through dialogue and the philosophy of non-violence. I am confident that, if the student leaders of Agogo State College were at our recent students' meeting, they would have known the importance of using the right channels and structures to have their grievances sorted out. We do not condone this; we condemn it in no uncertain terms.”

The students who were arrested for leading the riots have since been granted bail.

Raphael Sarkodie further indicated that, his outfit will continue to sensitize students in schools across the region on how best they can get their concerns resolved.

“What they have done is a dent on us. I believe going forward; they would have to have pick lessons from what has happened so that these things do not happen again.”

Agogo State College closed after students' riot, students arrested

The rioting students were said to have destroyed the school's streetlights, vandalized school buses, classrooms, assistant headmaster's office, air conditioners among others.

Addressing the student community, the Asante Akyem North District Director of Education, Ernest Kojo Afari, said the decision to shut down the school was to allow authorities time to repair some of the properties destroyed.

“As a result of the massive destruction that took place last night, it has become necessary to close down the school. The closure had become a necessary option for the following reasons: You destroyed all the streetlights; we need time to fix them. You destroyed plumbing installations, electricity transmissions have been interrupted. And all other things you have destroyed we need at least three to four days to fix them,” he said.

Chief Executive for the Asante Akyem North District, Francis Oti Boateng, told Citi News the District Security Council will hold a stakeholder meeting on the issue.