The Northern, North East and Savannah Regional Chapters of the Northern Network for Educational Development (NNED) are laying into authorities at Chiana Senior High School for the indiscipline exhibited by some eight girls of the school, for which they were punished by dismissal.
The punishment stirred controversy, resulting in an intervention by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo just a day afterwards.
Wading into the matter, NNED, in welcoming the intervention of the President and lauding him for showing leadership and a good heart, asked teachers and supervisors to be “diligent and up to the task”.
“In our view, the act by the students exposes the weak supervision in our second cycle educational institutions by school authorities, especially on the part of teachers and management committees who have direct oversight responsibility of the schools,” the Network said in a statement issued by the Executive Director of lead agency for NNED Savanna Signatures, Stephen Agbenyo.
“We believe that if authorities at the Chiana SHS had been diligent and up to the task, these students would not have had the chance to use unauthorised gadgets (mobile phones) in the school to record themselves and share same on social media.”
The Network condemned the language of the students in the viral video and reminded all that the freedom of speech guaranteed under the constitution is not absolute.
“Being decorous in our utterances goes for all, young and old and in particular, to our political class,” the statement admonished.
It called for the introduction of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in schools and the intensification of Guidance and Counselling Units.
