The Ghana Education Service (GES), in solidarity with the entire school community of Nana Baadu D/A Junior High School, and the Abiaku and Adigbli families, in the Kwahu Afram Plains North District, Eastern Region of Ghana, have mournfully laid to rest their pupil, son, Agbenyo Prince, a Form 3 Student of Nana Baadu JHS, who got drowned in the Bruben lake during the last inter- Zonal Sports Festival.
The March 29, 2025, sad, sorrowful event of the removal of mortal remains featured mourners from across Donkorkrom and beyond gathered in front of the Presbyterian Hospital Mortuary, at Donkorkrom, where the deceased had been laid. There was the viewing of the corpse, the ritual of calling out the Class Register and cancelling the name of the deceased off the register, performed, and a wreath was symbolically presented to the family.
The corpse was then conveyed to the cemetery at the St. Theresa’s R/C Basic School grounds, at Kwaekese, where he was laid to rest, after some traditional rituals were performed. Mourners then proceeded to the family compound at Donkorkrom for other rites.
Present for the corpse removal and burial were the Ghana Education Service, who were the Chief mourners, led by the District Director, Madam Victoria A. Y. Barku, accompanied by forces of Law and Order.
Also present were the staff and pupils of Nana Baadu JHS, some staff of Holy Rosary School, Asikasu-Donkorkrom, led by their Headmistress, Sr. Stella Nwosu, MSHR, and Sr. Dora Pearl Tsetse, SMMC, Headmistress of St. Theresa’s R/C Basic School, Kwaekese, among other Private Schools.
Others were Mr. Vincent Abiaku Agbenyo and Madam Felicia Adigbli, parents of the deceased, other family members, and well-wishers.
In an interview with the writer, Madam Victoria A. Y. Barku, District Director of Education for Kwahu Afram Plains North, expressed deep sentiments to everyone who has stood by them throughout their period of bereavement. “We appreciate everybody for the collaboration from the day the incidence happened up till today; Everybody cooperated and we sent our student home” she affirmed.
“May the good Lord bless everybody and may the Lord continue to console us, to comfort everybody, especially the parents of Prince,” she prayed.
The Education Boss, who happened to have been present at Bruben on that fateful day to cheer the players during the March 14 finals, disclosed that the unfortunate incidence of Prince’s death occurred during the habitual Zonal School tournaments, which this year was hosted at Bruben, from March 10 to 14, 2025.
She painfully recounted the sad event leading to the demise, saying that, reports from the teachers that had accompanied the students for the games revealed that, three students had gotten into a canoe at the nearby lake, after serious caution from the teachers, the previous day, for them not to go to the lake by themselves, unless being accompanied by the teachers, and while the other two managed to sail their way to the shore, the diseased jumped into the water, where he met his end, and the two survivors had rushed back to the games venue to break the sad news.
“It was rather unfortunate,” she regretted, as she prayed that nothing of the sort ever happen again.
By Sr. Sylvie Lum Cho, MSHR (Sister Communicator / DEPSOCOM AVD)
