DISMISSED STUDENTS ACCUSE PRINCIPAL OF EXTORTION (PAGE 11, JAN 21)

ONE hundred and thirty students who were dismissed from the Tamale School of Hygiene for allegedly using fake result slips to gain admission have accused the Principal of the school of extortion.
The dismissed students denied using fake documents and instead accused the school’s Principal, Mr Anladomo Kwaku Zori of masterminding their dismissal from the school after allegedly extorting moneys from them.
The aggrieved students at the weekend gathered at the offices of the Daily Graphic in Tamale to complain about what they described as “unfair treatment” by the school.
According to them, they were offered admission to the school in September last year after they had been issued with letters signed by the principal.
They said they later paid admission fees of GH¢580.00 each through the bank after which they were offered receipts by the school.
A couple of days later, they said a list of admitted students was pasted on the school notice board but their names were excluded.
“We were then asked to go home and come back on March 23 to normalise our admission”, they stated, adding that it was only a ploy to sack them from the school since by that time the school would be on recess.
Even though some of their colleagues had gone home, majority of them were still on campus and attending classes, they indicated.
When contacted, the principal denied all the allegations levelled against him and the school and explained that the admission requirements included passes in three core and three elective subjects at the senior high school level.
He added that original copies of certified result slips were brought by students during the selection interview after which admission letters signed by him were later offered to qualified applicants.
“In this particular case, some of the affected students might have gotten their admissions through the back door after claiming that they paid moneys to some middlemen,” the principal indicated.
He claimed that some of the alleged middlemen made photocopies of original admission letters with his signature and endorsed the forms themselves to make it look authentic.
Mr Zori disclosed that in all, 320 applicants legitimately gained admission into the school to pursue the two-year course for the 2008/09 academic year.
“I am only aware of some 33 students who have been asked to go home and come back on March 23 to normalise their stay in the school; if the number is more than that then I do not know where the rest are coming from,” he stated.
According to him, those whose documents would turn out to be genuine during the process would then be put on the waiting list for admission the following academic year.
On the refund of their fees, Mr Zori said it would be impossible because the students were adamant and still living on campus, attending lectures and enjoying all the facilities.