There's too much indiscipline in Ghana – Apostle Hunter

The host of ‘Answer For Today’ on Class Media Group's Number One105.3FM and leader of the Star International Church (SIC), Apostle Z.O Hunter, has commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for directing the Ghana Education Service (GES) to reconsider its decision and allow some 14 dismissed final-year students sit the remaining West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

The GES dismissed the students identified in various videos that went 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.

President Nana Akufo-Addo, however, directed the Minister of Education, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, “to engage the Ghana Education Service (GES) to reconsider its decision to ban some 14 dismissed final-year senior high school students” from sitting the ongoing West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

A statement signed by the Director of Communication at the Presidency, Mr Eugene Arhin, said: “Even though the acts of indiscipline undertaken by these students are intolerable, acts which have led to their subsequent dismissal from school, President Akufo-Addo is of the firm belief that dismissal alone is enough punishment and would serve as enough deterrent against future acts of indiscipline.”

The President, the statement noted, “believes that everyone deserves a second chance in life, and is, thus, hopeful that the students will be allowed by the GES to take their final examination as scheduled”.

“Indeed, all other punishment imposed by the relevant authorities should remain in place”, the statement added.

Reacting to President Akufo-Addo’s directive to the GES on Sunday, 9 August 2020 on his show, Apostle Hunter said: “We want to commend the president for calling the Ministry of Education to order for that decision they took. The President has issued a statement that the matter should be relooked at in order for the students to go back to write their exams.”

Apostle Hunter, however, cautioned the country’s leaders against acts of indiscipline, attributing the students' behaviour to what adults do in public at the national level.

“The children are behaving in such a manner because they’re seeing that even our leaders in this country, the way and manner we’re doing things, is what the children are learning; the indiscipline is becoming unbecoming, as a result of that you can clearly see and judge and note that even students at the Senior High School level are showing indiscipline to the country. So, this is a signal to all of us in this country; churches, church leaders, pastors, pastors' wives, counsellors, prayer warriors and every other person, chiefs of various divisions must stand up and speak against indisciplined actions of Ghanaians because that is not helping.

He further condemned the violence that marred the just-ended voter registration exercise and called on the various leaders in the country to stand up against indiscipline.

“Violence is also occurring too much. We have a lot of violence occurring, we have people pulling guns on Police officers, we have Ministers of State going into a place where we’re doing registration, the EC is carrying out an exercise, we have a minister going into such places armed. I’m calling on all persons, I’m calling on the security agencies, as the chairman for Ghana Apostolic Conference and Council, that we say that act is forbidden, it is uncalled for because somebody must behave as a mother. We are saying that we must call people to order, the indiscipline is too much, our drivers on the roads, the indiscipline is too much in our churches, in our political parties, indiscipline in the leadership of today. ”

“Some people are not better than any other Ghanaian. People use the word ordinary Ghanaian, nobody is an ordinary Ghanaian, every Ghanaian is the apple of God’s eye and must be accorded equal rights,” Apostle Hunter noted.

Meanwhile, as directed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Minister of Education, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh has engaged the management of Ghana Education Service (GES) today 10th August 2020 to review sanctions imposed on some final year students who misconducted themselves after the Integrated Science paper on Monday, 3 August 2020 in the ongoing West Africa Senior High Certificate Examinations (WASSCE).

However, the students remain dismissed and are to leave school campuses immediately. They are allowed to return to write their exams under guardian escort.

Also, the GES said all students who were in schools where destruction of school properties occurred are to be surcharged for the full cost of the damage.