"Too Much Freedom" In Our Schools; Discipline Has Reduced . . . - NAGRAT Prez 'Blasts' Education Authorities

The President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Eric Angel Carbonu, has bemoaned the high rise of disruptive behavior among some final year students sitting for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

According to him, some ‘strict’ measures by the Education Service have made it difficult to punish students when they flout school laws – hence, the birth of indiscipline among students.

He also blamed the use of mobile phones in most Senior High Schools as the major cause of naughtiness.

"It looks as if our children don’t know the implications of putting themselves on Social Media . . . Recording yourself and posting abusive videos on social media can go a long way to destroy their future,” he said in an interview with NEAT FM's morning show 'Ghana Montie'.

" . . Discipline has reduced in our schools, the children are doing whatever they like and the teachers are discouraged . . . everyday they are bringing new laws that don't do this or that . . . if you do this or that the child will be psycholigically traumatized and so many things . . ." he told Kwesi Aboagye in an interview.

This follows the GES’s dismissal of some 14 final-year students identified in various videos that have gone viral on social media inciting and participating in vandalism on various school campuses after sitting their Integrated Science WASSCE papers.



But President Nana Akufo-Addo has directed the Minister of Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, "to engage the Ghana Education Service (GES) to reconsider its decision to ban some 14 dismissed final-year Senior High School students.”

A statement signed by the Director of Communication at the Presidency, Mr. Eugene Arhin, said: “Even though the acts of indiscipline undertaken by these students are intolerable, acts which have led to their subsequent dismissal from school, President Akufo-Addo is of the firm belief that dismissal alone is enough punishment and would serve as enough deterrent against future acts of indiscipline.”

The President, the statement noted, “believes that everyone deserves a second chance in life, and is, thus, hopeful that the students will be allowed by the GES to take their final exam as scheduled”.

“Indeed, all other punishment imposed by the relevant authorities should remain in place,” the statement added.