The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition(GNECC) has urged the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to enforce all school safety policies and procedures to guarantee the well-being of students in a healthy learning environment.
It also asked the two bodies to ensure that all safety issues were adequately covered in current school crisis plans and emergency response procedures.
This was contained in a communique signed by the National President of GNECC Joseph Atsu Homadzi.
The recommendations follows the drowning in the Oti River of nine students at Charles Lwanga Junior High School, who were returning from working on the rice farm of their headmaster, at Saboba in the Northern Region, .
The GNECC while expressing its condolence to the bereaved families, also condemned the headmaster’s action.
“This is a clear violation of Part 3(7) in the rules of professional conduct for teachers in Ghana (Teachers’ Code of Conduct) i.e., Improper Use of Children’s labour,” it said.
“As a Coalition, which is passionately promoting equitable and quality inclusive education for all Ghanaian children, we are deeply sorrowed over this unfortunate and avoidable incident. We extend our deepest condolences to the families, colleagues and friends of the students who lost their lives under this unfortunate circumstance.”
It suggested that the Ministry and the GES put in place a friendly and anonymous reporting system in schools across the country that would create the enabling environment for students to report issues of violence to their well-being, while taking responsibility in maintaining safe school environments for themselves.
“GES should enhance school-community partnerships that would further promote communication systems between schools and communities (parents and traditional authorities) to promote safety measures for students beyond the school environment,” the GNECC said.
“We will also call on our comrades i.e. Teacher Unions and all relevant stakeholders within the value chain of education to put all hands-on deck to ensure a safe and an inclusive school environment for the Ghanaian child.”
The GNECC, however, commended the Education Ministry, the GES and the Ghana Police Service for their prompt response to the incident and expressed the hope that the justice systems wwould fast-track the processes to ensure justice for the bereaved families.
