Rise in indiscipline in schools is great 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, students 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 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, 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 dormitory, which is prohibited at SHS.

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 wonders 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 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.