The six students were deboardinised for denting the image of the school
A civil society organisation, Africa Education Watch, has called on the Ghana Education Service to review the system of “de-bordinisation as a form of punishment for boarding students and adopt progressive sanctions that actually reform offending students.”
This follows the de-boardinisation of seven female students of the Ejisuman Senior High School on Thursday, 6 February 2020.
The six students were de-boardinised over the use of “unauthorised gadgets, this time, a mobile phone to dent the image of the school, intentionally uploading a video on social media where unprintable words that border on sex were spewed out and for damaging the image of the school which is recovering from a 2017 scandal”.
The students videoed themselves while in their school uniform.
According to a letter to the Ashanti Regional Director of Education, “The management of the school, at a meeting with the affected students and their parents arrived at this decision.”
However, in a statement by Africa Educational Watch signed by its Executive Director, Kofi Asare on Monday, 10 February 2020, the organisation reminded the Ghana Education Service (GES) of their mandate “to groom students to become literates, numerates and responsible adults. In fulfilling this mandate, secondary schools have the responsibility to teach, mentor and discipline students, when they break school rules.”
The group said it was “heartwarming that the GES now has a positive discipline policy.”
The CSO, however, noted that: “The use of de-boardinisation as a tool for positive discipline has outlived its relevance. Since the 1990s, it has ended up making students even more truant than reforming them.”
It continued that: “Punishing girls by sacking them from the boarding school only places them in hostels without any parental or school control. This exposes them to further delinquency and harm from society. A positive discipline strategy must reform offending students rather than expose them to even higher levels of delinquency and truancy.”
It added: “It is time the GES takes a second look at de-boardinisation as a form of punishment for boarding students and adopt progressive sanctions that actually reform offending students”, indicating: “The Ejisuman SHS action and many similar previous actions need revision.”
The group also called on the GES to “lead in engaging stakeholders, especially Parent-Teacher Associations on this matter.”
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