Reconsider 'harsh' decision to dismiss WASSCE candidates - NUGS to GES

The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has described the decision by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to dismiss some West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) candidates over acts of indiscipline and violence, as “harsh.”

NUGS is also calling for the reconsideration of the decision by the GES.

This follows the GES’ 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 first few WASSCE papers.

Four teachers have also been interdicted in connection with the violence that erupted in the schools.

In a statement announcing the punitive measures, the GES said the sanctions are meant to deter others from such acts of vandalism.

However, in a statement signed by its General Secretary Divine Edem Kwadzodeh and issued by its Secretary for Press, Obed Yaw Osei on Saturday, 8 August 2020, the union condemned the action of the students.

“NUGS acknowledges concerns of examination malpractices and other acts of indiscipline by some students in the ongoing WASSCE exams. Such acts contradict the values and principles of the Union; the Union unequivocally condemns any act of indiscipline on our campuses thereof,” the statement said.

NUGS further noted that: “Such acts of indiscipline have no place in our institutions of training and should not be coming from students who are being trained to be the future leaders of this country.”

The statement continued that the union has also taken notice of the reaction of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and appealed to the GES to “take cognisance of the times we find ourselves and its already undesirable consequence on students i.e. the COVID-19 pandemic and its psychological effects on students.

“That the punitive measure of dismissing the students from the schools and barring them from continuing with the examinations which they have already started is too harsh and should be reconsidered. The Union believes that punitive measures should be meant to reform recalcitrant students, and not to have consequences that may jeopardise their educational future.

NUGS further continued that: “the managements of the schools and the Ghana Education Service should exact other punitive measures for these students and allow them to complete their studies and examinations.”

It reiterated that the Union “shall take steps to partner the GES and other relevant stakeholders to embark on a “Discipline Campaign” to educate and sensitise our high school constituents on the need to uphold the culture and values of discipline and also to forestall future occurrences of such indiscipline.”

NUGS also urged “all senior high school students to obey their schools’ rules and regulations, avoid all forms of examination malpractices and observe all the COVID-19 protocols” and not to “rely on supposed leaked papers; prepare adequately" and they will excel.