Child Abuse in Schools

Education is of enormous importance to most

Ghanaians as it is seen as a gateway out of poverty or basically a gateway to

better living conditions. Due to this, most parents do all they can to ensure

that their children gain education. Education in Ghana can be considered to be

free even up to the tertiary level, thus making education readily available to

most Ghanaians. The Free and Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE)

programme introduced in 1995 promised free basic education by 2005.

Unfortunately this target was not attained due to the fact that it did not

abolish all forms of fees and could not induce a significant reduction in the

indirect cost associated with schooling. It however reduced the cost of basic

education in Ghana, thus making education more available to Ghanaians. Senior

high schools students, if they are boarders, are only required to pay for their

feeding, PTA (Parent Teacher Association) dues and other user fees. Also in

tertiary institutions, the only monetary requirements of the students are the

Academic Facility User Fee and accommodation fees. Due to the low income level

of most Ghanaians, these fees are unbearable to many parents and guardians. The

government of Ghana however continues to pump more money into education as a

measure to eradicate illiteracy and poverty. Compared to other African

countries, Ghana invests more in education.

Although, Ghana takes much pride in the

education of her citizens, some of the approaches in this process might be

considered as unethical as they end up leaving a negative impact on the learned

Ghanaian. Unfortunately these practices among educators seem to go unnoticed by

the government and stakeholders hence nothing seems to be done to minimize such

misconduct. One issue worth discussing is the methods used by Ghanaian

educators to instill discipline in educational institutions. Learning is

defined as acquiring

knowledge or developing the ability (skills) to perform new behaviors. Learning

occurs in every stage of human development but it is more pronounced at the

early stages. At this stage of development, children learn to distinguish between

right and wrong, what is acceptable and what is improper and carry this with

them for the rest of their lives. This knowledge is acquired by emulating

adults and by the things these children see, hear or experience. Today,

children spend most of their time in school because parents have to work extra

hard due to economic crisis. This has resulted in parents spending insufficient

time with their children. Parents tend to leave the responsibility of nurturing

their children to the professionals in the schools. Unfortunately, these

professionals on most occasions end up causing more harm than good.

Disciplinary actions of teachers on

pupils often tend to have adverse physical, mental and emotional effects on the

pupils. Educators should be able to distinguish between what child abuse is and

what punishment is. Child abuse is defined asmaltreatment

of a child by a parent, guardian, or other adult responsible for his or her

welfare, e.g. physical violence, neglect, sexual assault, or emotional cruelty.

Two examples of

inappropriate punishments in schools are as follows; a student comes late to

school and is made to kneel outside the classroom for hours as a punishment or

a student scores a low mark in a test and receives six lashes to make him learn

harder. These actions obviously are examples of child abuse and are not the

right methods of instilling discipline in the student. They do not result in any

positive improvement in the child’s attitude or make the child smarter as well.

This type of child abuse is termed as physical abuse. This is deliberately using

force against a child

in such a way that the child iseither injured or is at

risk of being injured. The effects of this type of abuse may be instantaneous

or long term.

Another scenario of child abuse in

schools is when a teacher continually humiliates some students publicly usually

because these students do not perform as the other students. This form of abuse

is termed emotional abuse or cruelty. Emotional

abuse causes impairment to the child's self-esteem. It includes acts

that may result in, or place a child at risk of serious behavioral, emotional

or mental health problems. It is expected of professional educators to know

these facts and not in any way give special treatment to some students based on

their academic performance. Unfortunately this is not the case in most schools;

students with bad scores are branded as lazy students without any other

possible contributing factors being considered. There are a number of factors

that can cause a student to perform poorly academically which include dyslexia,

inability to properly understand examination questions, nervousness under

examination conditions and so on. The duty of the teacher is not only to teach

but also to help identify certain problems that students may be facing and find

pragmatic solutions to such problems. A careful study

of these factors that might be affecting students can lead to much more logical

solutions to the students’ academic problems.

Another

issue of interest in school is the fact that some teachers take advantage of

students sexually. This can take the form of fondling, making a child touch the abusive

individual sexually or betouched sexually, rape, sodomy,

exhibitionism, or involving achild in prostitution or child

pornography.These girls and sometimes boys that are

being abused are usually below eighteen (18) years and this therefore makes

abusing them sexually with or without their consent a very serious crime as

they are seen by the law as minors. Some teachers however ignore some of the

consequences. Usually, this is as a result of lack of self-control and

sometimes strong affection for children or teenagers as in the case of

pedophiles.

Considering the possible causes of these misconducts

among teachers, it would be realised that the causes usually originate from the

training these teachers undergo. Inadequate training results in teachers not

having the prerequisite skills to properly handle students. Understanding child

psychology and behavioural patterns are very essential skills required by

teachers to ensure the appropriate upbringing of a child. Thus the course

structure of teacher training colleges and other institutions offering

education educational programmes should incorporate such courses that would

enable teachers have a firm grip on some of these important skills to enable

them understand and handle children properly. However, this might not

completely solve our problems of child abuse in schools. The issue of using

untrained teachers in schools requires very serious attention. Whereas trained

teachers may not have all the crucial skills required to properly raise

children, most untrained teachers hardly have any skill at all. The use of

untrained teachers mainly is as a result of lack of teachers in the educational

sectors thus resulting in the need for supplementary teachers. Therefore, the

need for untrained teachers cannot be over emphasised. However, the upbringing

of children is very critical to national growth and development and therefore

every necessary means of raising children up in the right way should be

implemented. Thus the need for untrained teachers to go through some sort of

training before being posted to schools and subsequent training while working

as teachers to help equip them with the skills needed.

Nevertheless, these are not enough to ensure that the

future leaders of our nation are in good hands. Lack of motivation of teachers

may as well result in child abuse and attitudes of teachers that might affect

the lives of children negatively. It is normal if people want to be motivated

or appreciated even in doing their duties. If teachers do not receive enough

income in order to meet their needs, they might tend to put their frustrations

on students, influencing them unconstructively. Thus, it is expedient that

sufficient income and other incentives be provided to ensure that teachers are

satisfied and their well being been taken care of.

Lack of self-control is another issue that is worth

noting. Unlike the other issues already considered, self-control is a personal

character of an individual and therefore it becomes very difficult to quantify

or estimate the amount of self-control a person has before he is recruited into

the teaching field. Self-control is the ability for one to control his or her

behaviour, thus if teachers are unable to put their behaviour under control,

then they may tend to behave in unacceptable ways. This may result in child

molesting among others. Teachers therefore should try as much as possible to

put their behaviour in check to ensure a safe environment for teaching and

learning. This would ensure that students are out of harm’s way and teachers do

not break the laws of the nation.

These are some of the problems facing Ghanaian

education, their causes and some suggested solutions to these problems.

However, these problems are not limited only to Ghana but other countries may

have similar problems and as such these issues should be addressed to ensure

healthy development of the students.

John Wondoh

johnwondoh@yahoo.com

0245957156