Stephen Yakubu, Upper East Regional Minister
The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) has stated that the promotion of child rights without appropriate corresponding measures to limit their access has emboldened students of schools to misbehave and become indisciplined.
President of CHASS, Mr Alhaji Yakub A. B. Abubakar, who said this on Wednesday, noted that indiscipline among students was on the rise especially in the senior high and technical schools.
He was addressing the 59th Annual Conference of CHASS in Bolgatanga, under the theme “discipline in our schools and the child rights: the fate of the school head”.
The Ghana Education Service in 2017 banned corporal punishment in schools and its related measures and the move was to promote the rights of school children.
This, Mr Abubakar explained, made the country adopt a foreign policy that was alien to the values of the country and had empowered the students to abuse their rights leading to the destruction of school properties and lives.
He said apart from breaking school rules, some of the students use drugs and engage in physical fights using weapons like knives, cutlasses and guns to inflict serious injuries on themselves.
“Vandalising teachers’ properties like cars and farms are common occurrences, when teachers try to instill discipline, in some instances, they engage in the destruction and burning of school properties like dormitories, furniture and other buildings.
Mr Abubakar noted that CHASS was not against the prohibition of corporal punishment and promotion of child rights, however, the adverse effects on the development of the child.
“CHASS observed with wonder how some child rights activists quickly jump into the arena of defending their conceived denial of child rights issues, perhaps without looking at the negative effects their defends or approach is bringing upon discipline in our educational systems,” he said.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Stephen Yakubu, noted that indiscipline among students continues to be a source of worry and dent in the numerous government flagship programmes such as the Free SHS and needed a collective approach to address the issue.
He said the government would continue to boost the educational system in Ghana by providing the needed infrastructure and logistics and employing the teachers to work to imbibe the sense of discipline and patriotism into the students for sustained development.