Hundreds of mourners thronged three separate communities in the Ashanti Region yesterday to pay their last respects to three of the four students of Kumasi Academy (KUMACA) who died from meningitis within two weeks.
Asawase in the Asokore Mampong Municipality, Ahenkro in the Offinso Municipality and Kuntanase in Bosomtwe District came to a standstill when the bodies of Benjamin Opoku Acheampong (18), Asawase; Samuel Okyere Kwabi Dapaah (17), Ahenkro, and Prince Kodua (15), Kuntanase, were brought to be interred.
Unfortunately, only a few students from the school could attend the burial ceremonies because the venues were miles apart, while some final year students were busily writing their West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), and the forms one and two students were writing their internal exams.
Autopsy report
Autopsy reports made public last Wednesday at a press conference by the Asokore Mampong Municipal Health Directorate said the students died of meningitis.
The general mood on campus was solemn as students were seen in groups discussing the deaths.
The fourth student who died last Monday at the Ahenkro Community Hospital, near Offinso in the Ashanti Region, is yet to be named and his funeral date announced.
Numbers
Almost one week after parents came for their children, following the strange deaths, some students are yet to report.
The Assistant Headmaster of the school (Academics), Ernest Wiafe, confirmed to the Daily Graphic that despite the numbers on campus, both the external and internal exams were ongoing.
Background
The spate of deaths was greeted with spontaneous reaction from students who threw stones and vandalised the school bus and a number of streets light last Friday.
The news of the strange deaths spread across Kumasi, prompting panic as parents stormed the school to pick their children.
Subsequently, a commotion ensued between the school’s security and parents who had insisted on taking their children home without recourse to the headmaster.
The scuffle at the entrance of the school attracted policemen who restored calm and prevailed on the school authorities to allow parents to tale their children home.
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