Staff shortage blamed for rising indiscipline at Accra Academy

The management of Accra Academy Senior High School has attributed the increasing cases of student indiscipline to a severe shortage of on-campus staff.

According to the school’s headmaster, Mr Emmanuel Ofoe Fiemawhle, only 22 staff members currently reside on the school premises, overseeing a student population of nearly 5,000 boarders.

Mr Fiemawhle raised these concerns during a visit by the Education Committee of Parliament to the school, where he described the staffing situation as inadequate for proper supervision. He noted that the limited number of resident staff, including hall masters and other auxiliary workers, makes it extremely difficult to maintain order and discipline among students in the boarding house.

“We have 22 of our staff who serve as hall masters and other auxiliary workers. So, it is difficult to manage the students as boarders,” he told members of the committee. “If you want to look at the sources for indiscipline, it is because the numbers are not enough to manage the students as boarders.”

The headmaster also highlighted the lack of investment in residential infrastructure, pointing out that for some time, the school has not received any allocation for such development from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund). He called for urgent attention to this issue, stressing the importance of prioritising staff accommodation as a key part of efforts to improve discipline and student management.

Responding to the concerns, the Chairman of the Education Committee, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, admitted that staffing shortages remain a widespread challenge in many public senior high schools across the country. He gave an assurance that the committee would recommend to the Minister of Education to secure clearance from the Ministry of Finance to allow for the recruitment of more teaching and non-teaching staff.

“We have also seen the shortage of staff in the various schools that we went to,” Mr Nortsu-Kotoe stated. “In Accra Academy, with a student population of almost 6,000, they lack staff, and they must be provided with the same.”