Editorial
Addressing school authorities -students relationship important
Dear Editor
The behaviour of the Assistant Headmaster of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Senior High School who was recently dismissed by the Ghana Education Service (GES) for fondling a female student should serve as a wake up call for stakeholders in our education sector.
Although I find what transpired between him and the student that was captured on video unfortunate, I am of the view that the decision taken by the GES was a good one.
However, I believe that the incident that led to the dismissal of the Assistant Headmaster is one of many of such incidents that happens in our junior and senior high schools and have not been taken notice of.
There are instances where some female students complain about issues such as sexual harassment by their teachers and headmasters but no action had been taken.
My question then is, for how long should we wait for videos of such incidents to go viral before an action is taken?
I think it is about time that the GES collaborates with key stakeholders in the educational sector, including Parents Teacher Associations (PTA), school authorities, and civil society organisations to address such issues.
It will be important for appropriate measures such as strict monitoring of the relationship between students and school authorities.
Secondly, young learners must be empowered to report such incidents to school authorities. Sometimes, they go unreported because the children fear they might be victimised.
Establishing these kind of measures would not only help address the issue but also protect the mental health of students who suffer from these harassment from their teachers and school authorities or even seniors.
Instead, the headmistress/headmasters and teachers should advise the children on why they were in the school first.
Raising the children is first and foremost a key responsibility of parents but we also understand that these children spends more time in the school environment than the home, except the weekends.
That places a huge responsibility on them as trained teachers to help in shaping the lives of these learners.
Abraham Moore,
Ekumfi
Dear Editor,
I wish to use this esteemed platform to urge the traditional councils of Osu and La to call for independent investigation into the recent demolition exercise at Kaajaano.
The exercise rendered hundreds homeless.
Information about the reason for the demolition has been scanty with those desiring to know feeding heavily on social media posts.
One particular name –Jato, has been associated with it but under whose instruction the exercise was carried is also not known.
Sadly, instead of getting to know who ordered the demolition and for what reasons, traditional authorities of Osu and La have been embroiled in a tug-of-war over ownership of the said land.
This is premature. At this moment, they should call for investigation into the exercise to know the people behind it.
When that is done, then discussions about the owners of the site can begin. That would end the posture of the two neighbouring town which has the potential to turn into something else.
Ataa Osa Mensah,
Osu
Dear Editor,
I wish to use your respected platform to draw the attention of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to the behaviour of traders and some drivers about the use of lower denomination coins, specifically the 20 and 10 pesewas.
About two weeks ago, I read in your sister newspaper, The Ghanaian Times about this problem and the caution that followed from the BoG and some economic analysts.
The warning they gave was that the continuous rejection of the notes could create pricing problems which can eventually affect inflation.
I thought that would put to bed that practice or refusal to accept the coins when given out as change or use to pay for particular service.
Unfortunately, the problem still persist among traders, drivers, customers and passengers alike. Only last week, there was as altercation in the Accra Central area where a woman refused to accept five 20 pesewas note totaling one cedi.
As the argument continued, the trader decided not to sell to the customer again after by-standers explained to her that it was still a legal tender and those that refused it could become offenders.
This is an issue the BoG and other regulatory agencies must go and explain to the people and let them know that it is unlawful not to accept a currency that is still in use.
It nothing was done, it could create a much more serious problems.
Mary Osei Badu,
Swedru
