Teaching and learning resumed on Monday at Kobidi AME Zion primary and Junior High School as teachers and learners returned to school after a week break occasioned by a delusion over the death of two headmasters and a teacher.

This was after rituals had been performed by the chief priest of the area – Kobidi, to stop the strange deaths recorded in the school.

The town, located in the Sunyani West Municipality of the Bono Region, was in the news last week following the death of two headmasters and a teacher of the school.

When The Spectator visited the school premises last week, it was totally deserted with parents complaining as the children roam in town.

The death of the two were initially attributed to curses invoked on the school authorities by a disgruntled learner who was unhappy about some treatment.

But from a follow-up by The Spectator on the latest development, it emerged that the curse was actually invoked by an occasional visitor to the school who many considered as mentally unbalanced.

After consultation with the traditional authorities, rituals were performed for learners and teachers to return to school.

According to the Queen mother of the town, Nana Ansu Ameyaa Gyeabour who addressed a press conference, the performance of the rituals followed consultations with the chief priest of the area.

“The nature of the issue required that we consult the chief priest of the town. It was after that consultation that he requested three rams, fowls, bottle of schnapps and some cash amount to prepare the rituals,” she said. 

She explained that traditionally, that cost should have being on the family of the man that invoked the curses but due to the financial constraints, members of the community were made to contribute to pay.

“Under normal circumstances, the family of the man that invoked the curse was supposed to bear the cost of the fine but were financially constraint. As a result, households were levied Gh₵100 each to raise the money.” 

Narrating the full story, the Assembly Member of the area, known as Mr Boateng said the mentally deranged man occasionally visited the school to demand a portion of food served the children under the national school feeding programme.

And most of the time, Mr Boateng said, he was denied. 

Mr Boateng, said one of the days when his request was refused, he got angry and rained curses on the school authorities, specifically calling the death of any staff that embezzled any fund belonging to the school.

Subsequently, two successive head teachers and a teacher have died but what cannot be confirmed was whether it was associated with the curses and whether the three victims embezzled school funds.

Strangely, the perceived mental patient would return a day or two after the deaths to remind the staff of his curses.

That obviously caused fear and panic among the staff, culminating in the closure of the school from May 18 until last Friday’s rituals to pacify the gods and revoke the curses.

The perceived mentally challenged man has currently been excommunicated from the township for safety reasons and is reported to be in Chiraa, a nearby town.

From Daniel Dzirasah, Kobidi