Story: Zakaria Alhassan, Shelinvoya.
THE Shelinvoya L/A Primary School in the West Mamprusi district of the northern region has for the past one and half years been closed down following the practice of sorcery that has allegedly claimed the life of a female teacher in the school.
And for the fear of their lives, the rest of the teachers requested for transfer and have since been posted to other schools in the district compelling majority of the pupils to stay at home for the past one and half years.
The school that had a population of 179 pupils is the only basic education facility in the community with a population of 1,750 people. Shelinvoya is 21 miles from Walewale, the West Mamprusi district capital.
The school is made up of a kindergarten up to class six. The closer’s school from that community is a distance of nine miles at Kparigu.
At the moment, the community has taken its own initiative by engaging the services of some non-formal education teachers in the area who have volunteered to organise temporary classes for the pupils. It begun about two weeks ago.
According to a former teacher of the school who declined to mention his name, traces of concoctions including cow milk and mixtures of assorted grains and blood had been found near the class of the deceased several times after her death.
“Several appeals by the chief and his elders to perpetrators of the act to put a stop to it failed. A fowl that was slaughtered by the chief and buried on the school compound as part of a sacrifice to cleanse the area was exhumed the next day,” the teacher claimed.
“Since all efforts and interventions by the chief and his elders including the district directorate of education to stop the acts failed, we the teachers, for the fear of our lives decided to appeal to our employers to repost us which was granted,” he added.
The chief of Shelinvoya, Na Yakubu Issifu, confirmed the story and claimed that the father of the deceased teacher, Zakari Jabuni and his new wife were behind the death of the deceased teacher, Madam Ramatu Zakari as alleged by the people. The accused and the mother of the deceased have been divorced for some years now. Na Issifu further claimed that the accused was also behind the sprinkling of concoctions on the school compound, because “since the death of his daughter, Zakari has known no peace; he was doing all these things to chase away the pestering ghost of his daughter.”
He said this came to light after he and his elders had consulted a shrine at Bugia in the Kparigu area. At the Shrine, Jabuni was allegedly implicated in the death of his daughter. His new wife was however exonerated. The accused was therefore asked to pay an undisclosed sum of money and also provide some animals to pacify the gods. The accused has however denied the allegations even though he acknowledged sending the money and sheep to the shrine attendant as demanded. Since Zakari’s implication in the matter, he has almost become an outcast in the community.
It is in the light of this disturbing situation that, the Shelinvoya Community Children’s Club have therefore appealed to the Chief of the area, Na Yakubu Salifu, the Ghana Education Service and other stakeholders in education to ensure the timely re-opening of the school.
Members of the club, that was formed by the Regional Advisory, Information and Network Systems (RAINS), a Tamale based NGO expressed concern that, “we cannot continue to be in the house without attending school while our colleagues in other communities are attending school regularly.”
A class five pupil of the school, Issifu Alhassan said, “I am now shepherding my grandfather’s cattle; I may not go back to school even if it is re-opened today.”
When contacted, the newly appointed West Mamprusi district director of education, Alhaji Haroon Cambodia said he was yet to be briefed on the matter. He however promised to act with dispatch to ensure the re-opening and reposting of teachers to the school as investigations continue.
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