Members of the Upper East NDC Wing in Greater Accra applauded President Akufo-Addo for granting forgiveness to eight pupils from the Chiana SHS in the Upper East Region who had recently been dismissed from school by the Ghana Education Service for acting inappropriately in a popular video.
“We must admit that we were shocked and dumbfounded to have heard the unsavory and unprintable words used against the president by these girls, to the extent that we wondered if our fine societal morals had suddenly vanished.” We wish to vehemently condemn the acts and conduct of the students in no uncertain terms.
“In fact, just as we were about to issue a statement to plead for clemency on the harsh decision of the Ghana Education Service (GES), His Excellency the President directed that the GES should consider an alternative punishment instead of a dismissal.” We wish to commend and thank His Excellency the President of the Republic for exhibiting the highest sense of leadership in the matter of the eight (8) students of the Chiana SHS in the Upper East Region.
They said that in as much as they commended the president for his fatherly intervention, “we want to condemn the actions of the said SHS girls.” ” As we know, in our Ghanaian culture, it’s an act of gross misconduct and disrespect on the part of children to insult adults or the elderly in our society. It’s even more grievous and reprehensible to insult the President of Ghana, who is the first gentleman of the land. “We are not in any way condoning the conduct or act of the eight (8) students, we condemn it in all uncertain terms, we are of the confirmed belief and conviction that such action should not be tolerated, and we welcome any punishment that is punitive enough to serve as a deterrent to others, but we consider the outright dismissal as harsh and concrete because that could have a long psychological effect on them and their parents.”
They continued, “It is against this background that we commend the president for his timely intervention.” The president is a lawyer and a celebrated human rights activist, so he is familiar with the fact that the right to education is a fundamental human right of every Ghanaian, whose rights can only be denied or taken away on the grounds of exceptional circumstances that border on crimes. When it comes to children and juveniles, the emphasis is on reformation rather than punishment. See the Children’s Act, of 1998 (Act 560) and Juvenile Justice Act, of 2003 (Act 653). As the saying goes, “you don’t throw away the baby with the bathwater.”
“While we are by this press statement calling on the Ghana Education Service(GES) to heed the intervention directives and suggestion of the President to initiate an alternative punishment rather than dismissal, we want to use this occasion to call on the GES, the Child Rights International and all other stakeholders within the educational ecosystem, to as a matter of priority, provide free counseling services to this affected student.
“It is important to note that the act of the students is a reflection of the broken system we have.” How will politicians sit on national radio and TV and insult their political opponents, These kids could have taken mentorship lessons from those politicians who have made insulting political opponents a ritual. “This goes to confirm the saying that if the chief of the town comes home with a weird haircut, what do you expect his subjects to do?” the group stated.
source: Ebenezer Kofi Amponsah | Daily Guide
