Addressing indiscipline in schools: GNAT demands stakeholders' engagement

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has called for an urgent stakeholder engagement to fashion strategies to deal with indiscipline in schools.

It said educational authorities, teachers, parents, civil society organisations and heads of schools must come together to tackle the problem of indiscipline for the collective good of all.

That, it said, was a result of the kind of behaviours exhibited by students nowadays.

"We need to have a stakeholders meeting and have this thing corrected. Otherwise, our future leaders would take us by surprise," the General Secretary of GNAT, Thomas Tanko Musah, said to the Daily Graphic last Thursday.

His comments follow the stabbing of a final-year student to death at the O'Reilly Senior High School in Accra.

Incident

The victim, a General Arts student, was reportedly engaged in an argument with a schoolmate over whose father was wealthier.

This happened after they had finished writing an examination paper.

The argument degenerated into fisticuffs and Edward Borketey Sackey was stabbed multiple times.

The suspect was identified as Godwin from the Visual Arts class.

He has been arrested by the police and is in custody.

Videos and photos shared on social media showed colleague students in a desperate move rushing Sackey to the hospital. However, he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Condolence

Mr Musah, on behalf of the GNAT, expressed condolences to the bereaved family and the school over the loss of the youngster.

"We are all aware of the unfortunate incident that has happened to us as a people and as a nation regarding the passing of a final-year student at the O'Reilly SHS.

"We want to use this opportunity to express our deepest condolences to the bereaved family," he said.

The GNAT General Secretary said anytime a teacher attempted to correct a student who had done something wrong, some parents came to schools to attack them.

Sometimes, he said, the students organised themselves to attack a teacher who tried to discipline them.

Care

"As for the insults to teachers, it has now become a daily affair, where the student can say whatever he or she likes to the teacher.

"If care is not taken when you put any correctional measures in place or instil any correctional measures and the thing goes wrong, you would be taken on at the national level," he said.

Mr Musah emphasised that the aspect of character moulding "is lost on us, and the earlier we take note or address these things together, the better for all of us."
According to him, today, students came to school with weapons, including knives.

"Today, the confidence level of the student could be likened to those engaged in galamsey. The level at which those engaged in galamsey are doing it with impunity... is where we are now," he said.

He said disciplining students had become difficult, if not impossible, because of the kind of repercussions that would come up.

"What we are saying as an organisation is that we need to come together as stakeholders because the confidence level of the students is the same as those doing the galamsey.

"Some of them can easily charge on you, they can attack you, they can insult you and do whatever they like in the schools and nobody is saying anything about it," he said.

Mr Musah said the character being exhibited by some students was dangerous to society and that it was time something was done about it.