Headmaster remanded over drowning of JHS pupils

The headmaster of St Charles Lwanga Junior High School (JHS) in Saboba in the Northern Region, who was arrested in relation to the drowning of nine students of the school, has been remanded into prison custody.

The headmaster, Emmanuel Jashain, has been charged with manslaughter.

He was denied bail by the court even after his lawyer argued that the accused voluntarily submitted himself to the police hence had no intention to jump bail should he be granted.

The police said he sent some 31 students of his school to work on his rice farm. Nine of them drowned while they were returning from the farm when one of the two canoes with which they were crossing the River Oti capsized last Friday evening.

The incident is said to have happened at Buntu, a farming community near Saboba.

The police also said the nine bodies had been retrieved and handed over to their families for burial.

District Chief Executive for the Saboba District, Bingrini George has indicated that the District Security Committee will meet with the Ghana Education Service to discuss the canoe disaster. He also said the team will discuss the issue of sanctions on teachers in the district, who use their students as farm-workers and to possibly seize their licences.

The case has been adjourned to November 29, 2021.