NEW SCHOOL BUS INVOLVED IN ACCIDENT (PAGE 47)

A NUMBER of people, including some invited dignitaries, escaped unhurt when one of the 26 new buses handed over to second-cycle educational institutions in the Eastern Region crashed into a garage, shattering its windscreen.
The bus, which had been allocated to the Pope John Senior High School and was being taken away by one of the drivers of the school, who was only identified as Okai, hit the roofing of the garage, parts of which were destroyed.
Also damaged was one of the driving mirrors of the vehicle.
The incident, which occurred at the forecourt of the Eastern Regional Administration in Koforidua, had some of the people present fleeing in panic.
It all started after the Deputy Regional Minister, Mr Ofosu Asamoah, had performed the opening ceremony with the reading of his address, followed by a demonstration ride, with the deputy minister at the steering wheel.
After Mr Ofosu Asamoah had alighted from the bus, amid cheers from the crowd, including district chief executives and heads of the beneficiary institutions, drivers of those institutions were asked to take the new vehicles to their respective districts for onward delivery to the schools.
But Mr Okai, who was said to have so many years of driving experience, drove the vehicle into the people standing in front of the garage, all of whom managed to run away in panic.
The bus, however, hit the roofing of the garage, destroying its windscreen and the driving mirror.
Mr Okai, who was almost in tears, attributed the accident to the faulty hand brake of the vehicle.
Earlier in an address, Mr Ofosu Asamoah had reiterated the government’s commitment to education by providing infrastructure and other facilities to enhance teaching and learning at all levels.
He also mentioned the Capitation Grant and the School Feeding Programme as part of the government’s initiatives to make it possible for all, especially the poor, to be educated.
Mr Ofosu Asamoah advised heads of beneficiary schools to take good care of the buses.
The Eastern Regional Director of Education, Mrs Akosua T. Adu, said the regional directorate appreciated government’s support for the educational sector with the provision of vehicles and other logistics for schools and teachers in the region.