Reconsider your decision – Ghanaians beg for 14 ‘riotous’ final year SHS students

Ghanaians have called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to reconsider its decision of preventing 14 final year Senior High School students from partaking in the ongoing West African Senior High School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

The GES in a statement dated August 7, 2020, dismissed 14 WASSCE candidates and again bared them from writing their remaining papers on the grounds of indiscipline.

The GES stated that although the sanctions might be too harsh, it was to “serve as a deterrent and to ensure that life and property are protected in schools”.

Following the sanctions, several Ghanaians have called on the Education Service to reconsider its decision by allowing all 14 dismissed students to, at least, sit for the remaining exams.

“They should be allowed to write the exams but they should be made to pay for all items destroyed. If you don’t allow them to write the exams, when do you expect them to write it? They need to move on to the next level in academics,” Mr Amoako told GhanaWeb.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has also directed the GES to allow the students to write their final exams conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC).

This sanction comes on the back of continuous students’ demonstration over what they term as “too strict” invigilation by teachers in the ongoing WASSCE.

Some students from the Tweneboah Kodua Senior High School in the Ashanti Region destroyed school properties to register their displeasure over eagle-eye invigilation during their Integrated Science paper on August 3, 2020.

Additionally, some students from the Sekondi College, Kade SHTS, Bright Senior High School, Battor SHS, Juaben SHS were also dismissed from the school with immediate effect following their threats on the president and school officials. The students also physically attacked some invigilators and a journalist.

But speaking to GhanaWeb on the back of the sanction, one Kwame Baah said, “They should be made to publicly apologise to Ghanaians, the punishment is just harsh. They should be allowed to write their WASSCE. It was as a result of peer-pressure, it is not their fault.”

Another citizen added, “The punishment is very harsh, although what they did wasn’t right. I don’t blame them that much, the president said they are his graduates… it went into their head. The way the president is doing politics with our education is not good.”