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Editorial

Enough of bullying in schools

Dear Editor,

The death of a Senior High School (SHS) student, which reportedly was as a result of bullying at Konongo Odumase Senior High in the Ashanti Region, is still fresh on my mind.  The sequence of the incident was not too clear but the reports indicate that the deceased was resisting bullying by his seniors.  

As investigation into the incident continued, I have been wondering what the Ghana Education Service (GES) had been up to since this unfortunate incident. I have been expecting the GES to condemn and issue a stern warning against bullying but I am yet to find any concrete statement from them.

Many years ago, during my final year in Senior High School, our Headmaster was compelled to ban what we called “Nino’s Night” — an old tradition and a sort of an ‘unofficial’ welcome for first year students.

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Some seniors, on that day, had plotted ‘revenge’ on some of the juniors and were ready to subject them to different forms of torture. When the teachers got wind of the plans they quickly took action and cancelled activities scheduled for the night.

Certainly, the Konongo Odumase incident had nothing to do with Nino’s Night but showed the extent to which some seniors would want to exert their authority on juniors.  

I believe there are school regulations that proscribe bullying but it seems some students and teachers ignore them due to lack of enforcement.

It is time the GES introduced a policy document (if there is none) indicating zero tolerance for bullying in schools and must put measure in place to ensure such unfortunate incidents do not occur in future. We seem to have normalised bullying and must not allow the practice to fester.

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My heart goes out to the school and family of the deceased while we wait patiently for details of police investigations into the incidents.

Pearl Adobea Otoo,

Asamankese.

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Editorial

 Kudos to Ho Teaching Hospi­tal staff, but …

 Dear Editor,

If there is any group of professionals that get bad-mouthed the most, then you are referring to nurses and med­ical doctors assigned to public hospitals across the country.

For this particular letter, I want to sing the praises of this same group of pro­fessionals that work at the Ho Teaching Hospital, famously known as Trafalgar.

Despite the work load and the mass ca­sualties received at the emergency ward of the hospital, the welcoming nature of the nurses and the professional touch by the doctors can’t be ignored. My personal experience has got me travelling from my base in Accra to seek medical services from these professionals.

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Special mention has to be made of the likes of Precious of the Pharmacy Depart­ment, Dr Brandon Banor (a maxillofacial resident) of the Dental unit, male nurse Justice assigned to the female surgical ward. Words cannot really do justice to their affable, professional caring nature. A simple thank you is all that I can say.

In the same vein, I can’t but call out the bad attitude of the auxiliary staff and contractors of the hospital.

Chief among them is some of the contracted bank staff that handle the payment section of the hospital and the patient registration section (those that check the status of the patient as to whether they are fee paying patients or NHIS sponsored).

The attitude at times leaves a bad taste in the mouth. One such occurrence was a night staff of the registration section who had her legs on the office table whilst talking to patients.

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The CEO of the hospital needs to shine his torch light on this support sections be­fore they erode the awesome performance of the direct medical staff of the hospital.

Thank you for the space.

Kwesi Manu

Accra

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Editorial

 Develop policies to address disability concerns

 Dear Editor,

AT the beginning of the year, when I went to the bank to deposit money into my uncle’s account, I observed a very sad situation where a man in a wheelchair strug­gled to navigate his way around the facility.

This is because the struc­ture is disability unfriendly.

As I stood and watched how the man struggled to move his wheelchair, I felt sad and wondered if this is how the life of a disabled person should be. It be­comes worse if there is no one to offer help.

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In Ghana, People With Disabilities (PWDs) are of­ten treated differently and are often subjected to all forms of discrimination.

Most of these people find themselves in such a situ­ation as a result of unfor­tunate happenings such as accidents and injuries.

It is, therefore, not appropriate for anyone to discriminate against them. Discrimination against such persons take many forms, including how buildings are constructed.

Most of the public struc­tures are not disability friendly and impede their movement.

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As a country, we should consider the PWDs in de­signing our structures. I also think that there should be a national policy that seeks to address this issue.

I have a strong conviction that when such a policy is developed by the govern­ment, people with disabili­ties would feel appreciated and also promote social inclusivity.

Ray,

Kasoa

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