The Institute for Education Studies has condemned the practice in which teachers and students record and post videos of what transpires in the classroom on social media.

The practice has become so endemic in recent days. Last week there was a video of a little girl crying at the mere sight of the mouse of a computer and was afraid of touching it.

There have been others where teachers are seen knocking the heads of students in classrooms for misbehaving.

This IFEST believe is unacceptable and has called for a stop to it.

The full statement is as follows;

The Institute for Education Studies finds it very worrying a current trend on social media where some teachers allegedly record pupils during instructional sessions and post them on social media.

IFEST believes that teachers are supposed to use technology in their teaching, more importantly to record the instructional sessions to enable them review the lesson with the sole aim of improving on the next lesson. Under no circumstances should a teacher record a pupil and share it on social media for the child to be ridiculed by the public.

Teachers should note that, they are supposed to be facilitators or guides during the instructional period and not to intimidate or psychologically traumatise any pupil when he/she is not up to task.

We see such practice as unprofessional, unethical and abuse of the right of the child. We therefore call on the Ghana Education Service, The Ministry of Education and the National Teaching Council to codify the use of social media by teachers. Again, we call on various bodies that enforce the right of the child to step in and speak against this worrying trend before it gets out of hand

Signed

Peter P. Anti