Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has given the Ghana Education Service (GES) full backing to adopt and enforce a zero-tolerance policy towards criminal conduct in schools.

He said the government would support the GES in taking firm action against students whose conduct threatens the safety and security of the school environment.

Speaking at the national conference on stemming the growing indiscipline in schools in Sunyani, Mr Iddrisu said the GES has the authority and backing of government to ensure that criminal behaviour does not become normalised within schools.

“Today, you have my authority and support, and that of the President and the State, to declare zero tolerance for criminal conduct.”

The Education Minister said the GES must not hesitate to enforce the policy, assuring the Service that it has the full backing of government to make the directive effective.

“You have no excuse not to let it work, and you have our full support to make it work,” he said.

Haruna Iddrisu was emphatic that criminal conduct must have no place within Ghana’s school environment, warning that tolerating such behaviour could undermine the fundamental purpose of schools as safe spaces for teaching and learning.

“Criminality or criminal conduct should not ever find space in the school environment, and should not ever be tolerated or accommodated,” he stressed.

He explained that allowing such conduct to persist could transform schools into unsafe environments and ultimately compromise learning.

“Because when that happens, then it means the school environment becomes insecure and unsafe, and not good enough for learning,” he added.

His comments come amid growing concerns over serious forms of indiscipline in senior high schools, including gang-related violence, attacks on teachers and other acts of misconduct that have increasingly raised questions about safety in schools.

The directive places renewed responsibility on GES and school authorities to distinguish between ordinary disciplinary infractions and conduct that amounts to criminality.

The GES at the conference raised concerns about the changing nature of indiscipline in schools, with its Director-General, Prof. Ernest Kofi Davis, warning that behaviours previously associated largely with tertiary institutions are increasingly finding their way into senior high schools.