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Irate youth at Duffour in the Dangme West District of the Greater Accra Region did the unthinkable last Monday, when they invaded the only school in the community, assaulted the headteacher, threw her out and locked-up the classrooms. That was their way of protesting against the perennial poor performance of the pupils at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). Numbering about 20, the youth, clad in red and singing war songs, reportedly entered the office of Ms Juliana Teiko Quarshie, 55, and carried her, together with the chair she was sitting on, and flung her to the ground outside the compound. As the school pupils wailed and other teachers pleaded, the mob turned on them, assaulted and drove all of them away. Realizing that the headteacher had sought refuge in a nearly clinic, the attackers stormed there too, and assaulted the staff for harbouring her. They twisted the arm of a female nurse who attempted to stop them from pursuing the headteacher, after which they forcibly entered the room where she was being kept and dragged her on the floor of to the roadside. The group issued death threats to the rest of the teachers and staff of the clinic. They have since fled the community and the school has since January 16 remained closed. The youth, blamed the headteacher and her assistant for the school�s poor academic performance. According to them the two heads were always late to school and instead of supervising the teachers, sat under trees to converse all day. The best grade for the school which presented 16 candidates in 2009, they argued, was aggregate 32 obtained by two candidates while the rest had between 35 and 50. In 2010, 20 candidates wrote the examination and only one passed. In 2011, of the 15 candidates, only three passed with aggregate 31 and above. They said they had to resort to such an action because all their attempts to get the Regional Manager of the Methodist Education Unit, managers of the school and the District Director of Education to rectify the situation failed. The secretary of the group, Joshua Tettey-Fio, told the Times newspaper that the action was a collective decision of the community and denied that they manhandled the headmistress. Ms Quarshie denied the accusations leveled by her attackers, saying she tried her best to improve the school performance. Most of the pupils, she said fend for themselves and as such did not have enough time for their books. �While some scare away birds on rice farms, others go on fishing expedition,� when they should be in school� she said. The headteacher also blamed parents who she said did not take interest in their children�s education. Ms. Quarshie said when she got wind of the plot against her, she alerted the police who assured her of her safety. The District Chief Executive, Emmanuel Lartey, expressed shock at the action of the youth and said those found culpable would be dealt with according to law. The Asutsuare Police have granted bail to four youth believed to be ring leaders pending further investigations, the 'Times' was told. The Greater Accra Regional GNAT Vice Chairman, Asare George Yamoah, told the 'Times' on telephone that the teachers would not resume work until their safety was guaranteed. �Our members cannot continue to work in a hostile environment that cannot guarantee their safety,� he added. He said GNAT would meet all teachers in that circuit at Asutsuare on Thursday to decide their next line of action.