By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Sierra Leone Police have released 13 pupils of the West African Methodist Collegiate School. According to the Police the kids were arrested because of riotous conduct and disorderly behaviour on Monday.
On Monday a total of 25 pupils from the school were arrested following reports of riots in the area by the school pupils, which then later provoked more violent reactions by the larger student population.
Official Police account from the Congo Cross Police Station states that Police went to the school “They were pelting stones on the police and barricaded the road. They were so violent in character that it led to a standstill,” Police spokesman, Superintendent Brima Kamara, said.
A dozen more students are still in custody at the Congo Cross Police station. According to Superintendent Kamara the 13 were released because they had no case to answer concerning the riots.
“They have gone through screening and after that 13 of them were released because they had no case to answer,” Superintendent Kamara told Politico.
Police say the 12 who are still in custody will go through the due process as required by law.
“We are still investigating; if they have a case to answer they will be prosecuted,” he said.
On Monday, back door negotiation by school authorities and the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education with the Police to release all the kids had failed.
People around the school say this riot is a culmination of series of problems that have been brewing there. These problems range from poor administration to a deep rift between the Old Boys of the school and the management.
The rift has led to protests last week Friday which were led by students. According to Police the protests on Friday were caused because students said the principal did not allow them to cheat in this year’s West African public examination.
“The children said ‘the principal did not allow our colleagues to engage in examination malpractice. The invigilator and the principal were too strict’,” Superintendent Kamara said.
Acting Vice Principal of the school, Abu Bakar Kargbo, however told Politico that Monday’s incident was not connected in any way to the Friday protests.
“I know there are problems, but today’s (Monday’s) problem was not connected to the protests on Friday,” he said in an interview outside the precinct of the Lumley Police Station on Monday.
Teddy Handel Mannah, Public Relations Officer of the school’s alumni association, lamented how bad the situation is for the already battered image of the school.
“The entire administration has an infighting going on and they want to use a faction of the pupils to remove the principal. Who is the principal of the school should not be the concern of students. They should just come to school, learn and make good grades,” Mr Mannah told Politico.
Monday’s violence has left efforts by the school’s alumni to rebrand it in jeopardy.
“The end of this month we were about to do a program to raise some funds to fix some problems of the school. Now we can’t even do that, because all those who want to help us are no longer enthusiastic about it,” Mannah said.
Officials from the education ministry have scheduled for different parties who concerned with the current state of the school.
“We are going to have a sector meeting, which will involve the old boys, teachers and the principals,” Moses Sesay, an official from the Ministry, told Politico.
WAM Collegiate used to be one of the premier schools in Freetown, but the school’s image has suffered in recent years due to poor performances in public exams and violence. The school is owned by the Methodist mission in West Africa.
(c) 2019 Politico Online
