The Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini has argued that authorities of the Kalpohin Senior High School (SHS) cannot be entirely blamed for the recent death of a student at the school.

According to him, the school's poor condition with a lack of basic amenities like a sick bay and transportation means the senior housemaster of the school did what he could under the circumstances and should not be blamed for the incident.

Speaking in an interview with JoyNews on February 21, he said “I do not think that Kalpohin Senior High School has a sick bay.

“I am certain they don’t. I have been to the school a couple of times and they have mentioned their problems to me and I think that the sick bay is a luxury and that is why it has never come up.”

Mr Suhuyini emphasised that from his interactions with the school administrators and teachers, they are amiable individuals and not “negligent people”.

Read also: Death of Kalpohin SHS student shows flaws in our system – Alhassan Suhuyini

“The headmistress is a fantastic woman and I think they have passion for what they do but under the circumstance, if they could not do more than they did, I find it very difficult to hold them responsible when I know the condition under which they were,” he added.

His comments follow agitations by a section of students and the community who say the senior housemaster, to who the student's precarious condition was reported, acted too slowly, which led to a number of desperate students to move the student to hospital.

Read also: Aburi Girls SHS student reported dead

The latest incident comes barely a week after the unfortunate demise of Aburi Girls SHS students, Stacy Okyere, and also Kester Vadje who attended Akim Swedru SHS.

Both Stacy Okyere and Kester Vadje, were said to have asked for exeats to go home to seek medical attention but were allegedly denied by their teachers.

Read also: GES initiates inquiry into demise of 16-year old Aburi Girls SHS student

Touching on the Kalpohin SHS death, Mr Suhuyini said “In all of this my heart goes out to the family of the student. I think that they are having to deal with the worst end of this situation”.

Background

The Senior Housemaster of Kalpohin Senior High School in Tamale has been reported to the Northern Regional Police Command for negligence, which allegedly led to the death of the student.

The 17-year-old student, who sadly passed away on Sunday night, was supposed to be taken to the hospital by his fellow students after receiving permission from the senior housemaster.

Moses Baffoe, who lives in Tamale, saw the sick student vomiting at the school’s entrance while he was going home.

Baffoe tried twice to get the senior housemaster's attention to help the student, but his attempts were unsuccessful.

On the third try, the housemaster eventually reached the school entrance, but by that time, the student had already been transported to the Tamale Teaching Hospital for medical care.

Afterward, Mr. Baffoe reported the senior housemaster to the police for negligence upon discovering that the student had passed away before reaching the hospital.