Increasing school indiscipline is a big concern

 It is quite a concern to see how quickly school indiscipline is grow­ing. The sooner actions are taken to stop this ailment in its tracks, the better.

In several Senior High Schools (SHSs), law and order had completely broken down, and indiscipline had spread throughout. Students today do not worry about punishment.

A youngster is sent to school to learn, but nowadays, children par­ticipate in all kinds of vices at the expense of their education, causing them countless troubles.

Students now frequently attack their peers and teachers with the slightest provocation and even go on rampages to destroy school property, which ultimately has an impact on the innocent students.

There have been reports that some students in schools practise despicable behaviours such as bullying, lesbi­anism, gayism, smoking, occultism, drinking and assault. Others also sneak out of class, cheat in examinations or even refuse to write exams.

An illustration of this is the recent video that went viral, in which a student from Adisadel College in Cape Coast attacked another student in the dormitory by putting his arm around his neck and slamming his head into a metal bed, severely injuring the victim’s face on one side.

At the Labone SHS, reports say that two students got into a fight, and one of them invited people to terror­ise the school, a disturbing case that happened there. These are just exam­ples of the many instances of student indiscipline that are slowly destroying society.

The Spectator is worried about the trend of indiscipline and chaos in schools.

Despite widespread outrage and condemnation, some people argued that the incident in the video was not an isolated one because similar things happen in schools frequently, but because they are not reported or recorded on video, the incident is not made public.

In reality, the incident in the video, went beyond the typical “ho­moing” that first-year students would usually experience as part of second­ary school life.

Another specific case of disobedi­ence was undoubtedly brought about by the student who took the video while using a cellphone inside the dorm, which is prohibited at SHS. Surprisingly, other students did not intervene instead they just stood by unconcerned.

Could it be that, in addition to the lack of infrastructure and the difficulty in feeding students, among other things that present a significant challenge to school authorities, the rising student population in schools as a result of the free SHS is making it harder for school authorities to control students?

Additionally, despite the fact that some children are stubborn, one can wonder if parents are doing a good job of raising their children at home.

What options are schools offering to discipline students who disobey rules and regulations now that corpo­ral punishment is not used on them as per the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) directives?

Schools are being adversely affect­ed by the Parent-Teacher Association’s (PTA) declining influence, as parents are no longer actively participating in school activities as a result of govern­ment regulations.

The Spectator urges schools to im­plement codes of behaviour and ethics with the necessary consequences in order to create an environment that is favourable to good teaching and learning.

The level of supervision required has grown over time, necessitating the implementation of controls to manage the vast student body. Teachers who have additional responsibilities should be well motivated to encourage them.

It is time to organise a National Stakeholders’ Forum to draw on their knowledge and brainstorm solutions to these urgent problems that will help stop similar problems from occurring in the future.

The PTAs must be looked at in order to complement teachers’ efforts because GES cannot run schools on its own. GES must provide the PTAs with the tools they need in order for them to operate effectively and contribute to the expansion of the schools.

Parents must be actively involved in the upbringing of their children to ensure that their children are raised well.