Teachers worried over tension in Gyampomani, Akyem Hemang

Teachers in Gyampomani, Dome and Akyem Hemang have expressed worry over recent unrest and reprisal attacks between the three communities over activities of small scale miners in the area.

On Saturday confrontations between residents of Hemang and Dome led to road blockages in the area preventing movement of people and farm produce.

On Monday similar confrontation which ensued between Hemang residents and Gyampomane led to attacks during contact hours a situation which disrupted schools in the community, however, timely intervention from police restored calm after hours of unrest.

Some teachers who spoke to Citi News at the Gyampomani Presby Primary school said they will be forced to vacate their post if the attacks continue.

“The attacks have become a big worry to teachers here because most of us leave in the communities and when there is litigation over lands, it becomes a concern and a cause of worry to us teachers. We walk from Hemang to come and teach at Gyampomani and these two communities are having litigation issues so how do I walk to school to teach?”

“This is really affecting teaching and learning because yesterday when I came, they were demonstrating and approaching the other community and from what I saw it wasn’t easy for me at all. So I had to take a detour to a different area but unfortunately for me, that route was leading to Osino and I didn’t know so I ended up going to Osino and it really affected me. So the appropriate agencies responsible should intervene and solve it immediately,” a teacher recounted.

Another teacher also indicated that Monday’s incident distracted her class.

“Where the incident occurred is not far from our school and some of the students could have easily been hurt as a result of the attack so I was really scared. The noise and disturbances from the crowd were too much and it disrupted classes. We find it difficult even mobilising the students to come to school in the first place and also getting their attention in class is not easy so these attacks and confrontations are affecting teaching and learning because at a point, the students wanted to go out but we tried our best to prevent them”.

“We want the appropriate authorities to talk to leaders of the 3 communities in order to restore calm and avoid a repetition of what happened because if it continues I really don’t know what will happen. Maybe the school will be closed down because we can not sit down and be witnesses to what happened.”

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