Child Rights International has described as harsh the banning of students from writing the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for rioting.

According to a statement signed by its Executive Director, Bright Kweku Appiah, the decision has the potential of ruining the future of the affected students.

“It is in this vein that Child Rights International views the decision of the Ghana Education Service to dismiss the affected students and at the same time ban them from writing the examination in the remaining subjects as too harsh and has the potential to cause irreparable harm
to their future” the statement says.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) dismissed 14 students from five Senior High Schools for rioting during their Integrated Science paper. They were also barred from writing their remaining exams.

The students from Tweneboa Kodua SHS, Kade SHTS, Sekondi College, Battor SHS and Juaben SHS vandalised school furniture, smashed bowls containing evening meals in the dining hall, attacked invigilators, journalists, demonstrated and issued threats to school authorities for being firm on invigilation during exams.

Child Rights International commended GES for dismissing the implicated students adding that “it is in the right direction and aimed at entrenching discipline for the moral upbringing of the students.”

Earlier, the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) also expressed similar concerns that the students should have only been deboardinised and not banning them from the exams; a decision it contends may end up creating monsters for society.

Child Rights International has also called on the Minister of Education to intervene whiles appealing to the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service to reconsider the decision and allow the students to sit for the remaining papers.