JUST IN: President Akufo Addo Intervenes In The Discipline Of The Eight Chiana SHS students
The Ghana Education Service has taken disciplinary action against eight China SHS students, and President Akufo Addo has intervened.
President Akufo Addo revealed in a press release dated January 13, 2023, that he had instructed the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, to tell GES to look for another disciplinary measure rather than dismissal to deal with the students.
This follows the dismissal of eight students from the Chiana Senior High School in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region by the Ghana Education Service (GES) for making disparaging remarks about President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
It will be recalled that last year, the eight students featured in a viral video made disparaging remarks about the President and his free SHS policy.
On behalf of the students, the school, and the general public, the national management of the GES issued a statement condemning their misconduct and offering their apologies to the President.
However, Dr. Eric Nkansah, Director General of the Ghana Education Service, ordered the expulsion of all eight students from the school in a letter dated November 29, 2022, following extensive investigations into the students’ behavior.
The student’s behavior was described as “considered very undesirable and contrary to the acceptable standards of conduct generally required of any student in our Educational system in Ghana” in a letter to the student’s parents.
The GES urged the students to make use of the dismissal as “a major turning point in her life to bring the desired change in her behavior and attitude toward life.”
Following this, the students who were fired from the Chiana Senior High School in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region have apologized for using unprintable language about President Akufo-Addo and are pleading for forgiveness from the first gentleman of the land. The school is in the Kassena-Nankana West District.
After misconduct investigations were launched, the eight students who were dismissed for insulting president Akufo-Addo were asked never to return to the school.
When they spoke with Citi News, some of the students said that they didn’t mean to say what was said in the video that has since gone viral.
They claimed that all they were doing was imitating social trends.
Hamidu Huzaimah Daabu, one of the dismissed students said they were asked to leave the school on November 15, 2022, and when they were called for a meeting on January 11, they thought it was to announce their return only to be handed dismissal letters.
“It was yesterday [January 11] that they called us to come for a meeting, and I was thinking that they were calling us to come and do some manual punishment, but when we got there with our parents, we were given dismissal letters which made us cry before the headmistress and the district director of education.
“I am pleading for them to have mercy on us because we are left with a few months to complete [SHS] and come home, we are willing to sign a bond and any other punishment.”
“We were only imitating people on social media, and we didn’t know it will go this far, please have mercy on us,” she pleaded.
Another student, Plange Matteer said, “we are sorry for what we did, and we didn’t know what we were saying will go viral. They should please forgive us.”
SOURCE: ghanaeducation.org
