A member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) communication and legal team, Abraham Amaliba, has revealed that the increasing rate of indiscipline in senior high schools in the country can be attributed to the failure of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and other stakeholders, following the initial dismissal of the eight students of Chiana Senior High School who made derogatory remarks against President Akufo-Addo.

According to him, this is so because the students are being trained by the GES. He indicated that persons criticizing the students must instead blame their trainers as they failed to do due diligence.

“If you condemn the students, then you need to condemn the stakeholders and the educational system. It only shows the mess that our educational system has fallen into. Stakeholders here mean the parents, teachers and the educational authorities (the GES). And so much as the video is in bad state, I’ll also like to say that there’s growing indiscipline in our secondary schools, and if we all agree that there’s growing indiscipline, it means that Stakeholders including the GES have failed.”
Abraham Amaliba

Commenting on the dismissal of the students by the GES, he stated that it was wrong to mete out such a punishment to the students. He explained that the punishment “is meant to destroy [and] it is not meant to correct.

“It is not reformative. A good educational system is supposed to punish and correct.”
Abraham Amaliba

GES refers dismissal of eight Chiana SHS students to school’s disciplinary committee

Meanwhile, management of the Ghana Education Service has referred the dismissal of the eight Chiana Senior High School students to the School’s Disciplinary Committee. This followed an intervention by President Akufo-Addo who expressed the need for alternative means of redressing the matter.

GES in a release signed by the Head of Public Relations Unit, Cassandra Twum Ampofo, noted that the School’s Disciplinary Committee is to explore alternative sanctions for the students.

“The affected students were dismissed based on a recommendation from the School’s Disciplinary Committee. Thus, Management has referred the matter to the School’s Disciplinary Committee to explore alternative sanctions other than dismissal.”
Ghana Education Service

Additionally, the GES noted that the affected students are to report to the Headmistress of the School for further directions.

Following the President’s intervention, some parents and guardians of the dismissed students of Chiana Senior High School in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region have expressed gratitude to President Akufo-Addo.

Mr Inusah Hamidu, a guardian of one of the dismissed students stated that the parents are “happy and grateful to the President for the intervention and all stakeholders who brought this to the attention of the President”.

It would be recalled that eight girls in their final year were dismissed by the Ghana Education Service on Wednesday, January 11, 2023, for insulting and using unprintable words on the President in a viral video in November 2022. The affected girls and their parents and other members of the public urged the President to have mercy on them and restore their right to education.

Child Right International (CRI) joined numerous calls by the public for Ghana Education Service (GES) to review the dismissal of the eight Chiana SHS students for insulting President Akufo-Addo.

According to the organization, dismissal of the students denies them the right to education which every child is entitled to by law.

In a press release signed by the Executive Director, Bright Kweku Appiah, the CRI said the behaviour exhibited by the students must be subjected to correction and rehabilitation. It highlighted that the decision will suppress the role of the education service which is to protect the interest of the children.