Thomas Musah Tanko is the general secretary of GNAT
The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Thomas Musah Tanko, has detailed why indiscipline has risen among students in schools especially Senior High Schools(SHSs).
During a phone call conversation, on the program Yen Nsempa on Onua FM, Thomas Musah Tanko disclosed that teachers have become handicapped when it comes to character moulding for fear of the conduct of parents when they try cracking the whip.
According to him, teachers have been advised by the Ghana Education Service(GES) and parents not to use canes on students but only advise them when they go wrong, hence the rise in indiscipline in most schools.
“There are several instances where parents have attacked teachers physically for correcting their wards. So we’ve also told the teachers not to hold canes in school,” he said.
Musah Tanko added that some of the students have bad backgrounds and are already violent before they are enrolled in school hence it is imperative for teachers to be empowered to discipline them.
“The school environment is now becoming complicated. It is because of how teachers are being treated currently. It is the fault of the GES. Teachers are now on the fence because if they try to discipline the students in an unapproved manner, they will get suspended so they are all being careful,” he added.
This revelation from Musah Tanko follows the murder of a final year General Arts student of O’Reilly Senior High School, Edward Borketey Sackey by his colleague over a trivial argument on who was richer than the other.
The suspect has been picked up by the police after the incident on September 3, 2024, and is currently being arraigned before court and charged provisionally with murder.
