The Ministry of Education (MoE) has sent a stern warning to miscreants in second cycle schools, stressing that lawlessness and misconduct will be dealt with ruthlessly. 

The Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Clement Abass Apaak, therefore, urged parents to take interest in the behaviour of their children and ensure that they did not become an embodiment of lawlessness in their schools while recruiting innocent people to join them. 

The Deputy Education Minister gave the warning in an interview with the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of the 39th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he attended a side event on education.

“If they do not caution their wards or do not pay attention to the conduct of their wards in school and their wards engage in acts of lawlessness or misconduct, they should expect the most severe sanctions to be meted out to them.

We cannot build the Ghana we want or think about a better future if we look on for our future leaders to become indisciplined citizens and misconduct themselves.

So, it is for our collective good to ensure that our students at all levels are disciplined and act within the context of the law,” the Deputy Minister said.

His comments come on the back of reported acts of lawlessness in some secondary schools in the Eastern Region, where a young lady was gang-raped and another student was stabbed at Super Zonal Games.

Prior to that, a teacher was attacked by some students at Kade Senior High School.  

Action

Dr Apaak stressed that the ministry, under the leadership of Haruna Iddrisu, had taken special interest in the indiscipline among senior high school students and had started prosecuting some students who were involved in various acts of misconduct.

“Since we took over the reins of governance, I can give you several examples where the Ministry, through the Ghana Education Service (GES), has acted swiftly.

“One popular incident is when a number of students, past and present, from Kade Senior High School assaulted one of their teachers because he prevented them from cheating during the last WASSCE examination.

“Although the teacher had made peace with the students through the intervention of their families, we still insisted that the law ought to take its course.

Subsequently, the students were arrested and taken to court.

They were found guilty and were sanctioned to pay fines and sign a bond of good behaviour,” he said.

He revealed further that two culprits had been arrested by the police to assist with investigations on the rape case, while the victim was receiving counselling towards proper rehabilitation.

The deputy minister added that investigations were also ongoing into the stabbing incident. 

Inclusive education

Dr Apaak underscored the government’s commitment to inclusive education, indicating that  an amount of GH¢25 million had been allocated to provide free education for persons with disabilities at the tertiary level, with a special focus on creating equal opportunities particularly for girls in the sector.

“But we can't speak about education, equity, inclusivity, without also speaking about giving equal opportunities, particularly to the girl child.

“To ensure that we give equal opportunities to the girl child to explore their full potential and indeed enjoy their full rights, we have introduced the free sanitary pad policy, which is in operation.

What we call period poverty affects the girl child's education negatively,” he said. 

Dr Apaak added that there was clear data which suggested that availability of sanitary pads boosted confidence and school attendance among young girls, hence the government’s decision to initiate the policy.