The National President of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Reverend Father Stephen Owusu Sekyere, has stated that illegal mining, also known as galamsey, is not only degrading the environment but also eroding the moral fabric of young people, leading to widespread truancy and defiance among students.

Speaking in an interview, Rev. Fr. Sekyere revealed that in several galamsey-affected areas, including parts of Manso in the Ashanti Region, schools are struggling to maintain attendance and discipline.

“I don’t want to put those schools (names) here, but the fact is that we have students who are involved in galamsey,” he said. “In the various schools in the galamsey areas — Manso area and all those places — school reopens and students really don’t come to school early. Some of them will come to school after a month, some of them after two months, and the kind of indiscipline they also exhibit in schools is very alarming.”

He further disclosed that illegal miners have encroached on school lands in some communities, forcing school authorities to operate in unsafe conditions.

“In some areas, galamsey is also encroaching on school land here and there, so we deemed it as a concern and we needed to talk about it so that authorities would do something about it for us — so that the future of these youth would be secured,” he explained.

The CHASS President lamented that many students involved in galamsey return to school with destructive habits and lifestyles that disrupt teaching and learning.

“Some of them are involved anyway, so they take long in coming, and because of what they do and the lifestyle over there, they come to school and some of them are doing drugs that they do — really destroying their lives,” he revealed. “We see it as a very serious concern. Because you know, if you put students in school and then because some of them are involved in galamsey they are not really coming to school, it makes teaching and learning very difficult. The teacher will be there, students won’t come in.”

Rev. Fr. Sekyere stressed that the situation threatens the future of Ghana’s youth and called for urgent government intervention.

He expressed support for calls for a possible state of emergency to be declared in illegal mining zones to restore order and safeguard the country’s human capital.

“So, as conference, we also try to add our voice to the authorities to do something about it in a very urgent manner,” he urged. “If the government sees that to be something that is very important to do, why not? They should go ahead and do it because we have to secure the future of this country. We can’t allow galamsey to destroy us.”