As rival schools clash in Koidu
March 24, 2016 By Mohamed Massaquoi
Local Unit Commander (LUC) of the Tankoro Police Division, David Sahid Koroma, yesterday confirmed that peace had returned to the eastern district town of Kono after pupils of Koidu Secondary School (KSS) and Islamic Secondary Schools (ISSK) clashed on Wednesday.
Details as to the cause of the skirmish remains unclear, but LUC Koroma informed this medium in a telephone interview that local sources say an ISSK teacher beat a pupil of KSS, who mobilised his colleagues to assault the teacher, thus igniting the violent confrontation between pupils of the two schools.
“A team of police personnel were swiftly dispatched to the scene to address the situation. As we speak, 31 students got injured during the confrontation, but we are investigating the matter,” he said.
He said few arrests were made, although all of them were subsequently released.
Meanwhile, civil society activist in Koidu, Amadu Kamara, told our reporter that schools were ordered to close by the Deputy Director of Education in Kono for fear that the violence could escalate.
Koidu Secondary School is a government-assisted school. It is the largest and most prominent secondary school in Kono District.
The Islamic Secondary School Koidu is also a government-assisted school that was founded by a Mandingo philanthropist, Alhaji Sheku Taylor Koita in 1979.