President’s intervention in Chiana SHS girls case an interference – EduWatch

Education think-tank, Africa Education Watch says the intervention of President Akufo-Addo in the case in which eight students of Chiana Senior High School were dismissed for insulting him, amounts to an interference in the affairs of the Ghana Education Service(GES).

Following the President’s intervention, the Education Ministry has asked the GES to readmit the female students and rather consider alternative disciplinary action instead of dismissal.

A statement signed by the Spokesperson of the Ministry, Kwasi Kwarteng revealed on Friday.

There have been several calls from the Minority in Parliament, Student groups, some Educationists and a section of the public for the GES to reconsider the harsh decision capable of destroying the future of the girls.

But speaking to Starr News, a Senior Programmes Officer at Africa Education Watch, Divine Kpe said the management of schools and relevant institutions must be allowed to exact punishments that are within the law of Ghana to students to serve as a deterrent to others.

“Look at the spate of indiscipline in our schools. Teachers feel that their power to discipline students has been taken away from them by the introduction of positive discipline tools. They feel like now even if we discipline students, authorities could come in to plead or reverse the decision and therefore they don’t want to do it anymore. Whatever students are doing, they are being left on their own to continue. We don’t want to encourage that so if the code of discipline which spells out the disciplinary outcome is followed and a decision is arrived at if there’s anything that must be done we must use internal structures to appeal the process for a reversal and not as we’ve seen the President calling to direct that the GES reverses the decision.”

“We should not be seeing political interference in the decisions of schools. We must get to a point where when schools take a decision and it is consistent with the school’s code of conduct and there has to be any change we’ll use the internal structures to appeal a reversal,” Divine Kpe added.

Background

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has dismissed eight female students of the Chiana SHS in the Kassena Nankana West District of the Upper East Region who were captured in a viral video insulting President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The dismissal of the students comes on the heels of an investigation set into the case by authorities last year.

Prior to the dismissal, the students had been on suspension for their misconduct.

GES in a dismissal letter dated November 29, 2022, signed by the Director General of the GES, Dr Eric Nkansah, and handed to guardians of the affected students described their conduct as very undesirable, and contrary to the acceptable standards of conduct generally required of any student in Ghana’s educational system.

Management of the school as well as GES had assured the President and Ghanaians that the development will be investigated and the right punishment applied accordingly.