File photo; Some heads of SHS in Ghana have been sanctioned for defying the directives of GES
We remarked in a previous editorial that those who stood in the way of the cruising free SHS train could be crushed. No sooner had the ink dried on the premonition than some scrounging headmasters incurring sanctions with a few of them suffering outright dismissals from the Ghana Education Service. They have labored for so many years only for them to attract such humiliation in the end.
Such persons should not blame anybody for their predicaments because after all they ignored the danger signs and the importance of the subject under review chasing monies which under the circumstances they should have avoided even if they had been doing so over the years.
We found it rather difficult understanding why some officials in the education chain would want to impede the success of a major policy such as the free SHS. Nobody in their right senses would take such a risk as some of the headmasters did.
We are equally surprised that some Ghanaians would seek to describe the action taken against the headmasters as heavy-handed. Let us understand as a people that our lack of progress as a nation is because of the overwhelming indiscipline in our general attitude.
Unless we change our attitude to work and public service in general, we would make little or no progress as a people. Those headmasters and their assigns who put spanners in the works of the free SHS deserved what they got and we would ask that as many more who would tread that path should suffer similar fates.
It is time we departed from the path of pleading for those who suffer sanctions for daring the state by breaching laws and regulations. The actions of such persons when they are not dealt with through deserving sanctions could serve as incentive for others to tread on a similar path. That is what we do not want to occur in the country.
Those who are calling for mercy for these headmasters should also know that laws are made to be abided by and so whoever breached these should not blame anybody for the fallouts from their folly.
As persons who are required to impart discipline among the students in their schools when such persons themselves lack this virtue, then we can worryingly conclude that all is not well with us and the earlier we responded to the situation the better will it be for our future.
We must begin to use the rod constructively when the need arises which is what has happened. We have been stuck in one grid position for far too long and must start moving forward.
Our educational development when it is visited by such a rare paradigm shift must not be allowed to be scuttled by persons with myopic outlook for the country.
Further probes should be undertaken on allegations which are reported by both parents and students and the necessary sanctions applied.
