The Tumu Secondary Technical Senior High School in the Upper West Region has been shut down indefinitely following student protests on Thursday evening.

Police have also picked up some 23 students over the disturbances.

The students demonstrated and destroyed properties belonging to the school.

They are also alleged to have also cut off the power supply to the school and ransacked the bungalows of some of the teachers. Their action was in protest of the seizure of their mobile phones by school authorities.

The extent of the damage is yet to be assessed, according to the Upper West Regional Director of Education, Evans Kpebah, who confirmed the latest development to Citi News.

“It is a painful decision. We are not happy with it. But upon the advice of the Municipal Security Council and the Board Chairman of the PTA, it is not advisable to keep the students,” he said.

Mr. Kpebah noted that “a few culprits have been arrested and we want to do more investigations and settled down.”

The closure is also affecting final year students who are sitting for the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Exams.

“Third years are also affected. They will also go and be extorted every morning to write their exams,” Mr. Kpebah said.

There was a similar incident at the Nkwanta Senior High School in the Volta Region in October 2018.

That school was closed down indefinitely following student rioting after the school authorities seized and destroyed students’ mobile phones.

Police ended up arresting 30 students over the incident