Accra-Ghana, July 26, GNA – Mr Daniel Fenyin, an educationist and counsellor, has advised the Ghana Education Service (GES) to restore disciplinary power and authority to teachers and principals for them to penalise students for misbehaviour.
He stated that this would allow them to have complete control over the kids they educate, as well as help them keep students’ behaviour under control.
Mr Fenyin made the plea during an interview with the Ghana News Agency in response to an incident at Adisadel College in which a student was assaulted by another student.
He claimed that the recent change in which teachers were unable to penalize students who made mistakes and had to get approval from the GES was encouraging indiscipline in schools.
According to the Educationist, the development had empowered some students to misbehave in school, knowing that their teachers had limited authority to penalize them.
“All powers and authority have been taken from the teachers. Teachers have been made to see their work as to only teach and nothing more.
“The role of the teacher as a professional who is supposed to mould the character of students has been taken,” he said.
Mr Fenyin claimed that the rule of conduct from the GES to Senior High Schools was unclear on what constituted bullying.
He emphasized that some seniors in high schools used seniority to intimidate and assault their juniors and requested the GES to define bullying and attacks precisely to combat that social problem in schools.
On Monday, July 24, 2023, an Adisadel College student was seen hitting another in a viral video.
The student is seen in the video choking his classmate from behind before pushing his head against the side of a bunk bed.
Both the victim and the culprit, however, have been suspended indefinitely.
The victim would be escorted to his final tests, whilst the perpetrator would be barred from taking his final exams at all.
But Mr Fenyin insisted that the victim’s penalty should be reconsidered and that he should receive counselling to rehabilitate from the assault.
