By Dr. Nana Sifa Twum, Media and Communications Consultant
The recent reports about killings in Ghanaian schools, especially Senior High Schools have created public discourse.
This comes amidst the worrying illegal mining activities ongoing in the country, with its attendant wanton destructions.
The issue of killings in our schools also needs to be looked at, as it appears serious and may get out of hand if not checked.
In recent times, killings in Ghanaian schools are often reported, the very latest one was the death of an 18-year-old final-year student from O’Reilly Senior High School in Accra.
Edward Borketey Sackey, a General Arts student was stabbed on campus and pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
There are still fresh memories of the killings of some students on campuses, all of which were orchestrated by their colleagues. The sudden death of Theophilus Ansah of the Ghana National College in Cape Coast, Peter Ofori, who also died under similar circumstances at the Osino Presby Senior High and Technical School in the Fanteakwa South District of the Eastern region, among others need special attention from the Ghana Education Service.
All indications point to the situation reaching an alarming proportion and one wonders how this can be curbed. It would be recalled, that not long ago, there arose high incidences of riots and violent activities in our schools, but were swept under the carpet.
There were reported cases of student vandalism and destruction of school property in schools as Tweneboa Kodua Senior High School in the Ashanti region and Ndewura Jakpa Senior High Technical in the Savanna region.
The demonstrations were allegedly caused by the strict supervision of the school authorities during the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE).
It could also be recalled, that the Effiduase Magistrate Court in the Sekyere East District of the Ashanti Region in 2020 remanded four final-year students of Effiduase Senior High Commercial School (EFFISCO), over an allegation of gang-raping a form one female student.
The four students, suspected to have gang-raped the female student, had to visit the WASSCE examination centre under police guard to write their exams and after taken back into police custody. It is also on record, that some students of Bright Senior High School, a private SHS in Kukurantumi in the Eastern region, were reported to have allegedly chased, hounded, pounced on and beaten a reporter of the Ghanaian Chronicle, who had gone to the school to investigate alleged cases of examination malpractices with cudgels, sticks and knives.
Vandalism and hooliganism, which have now escalated into killings in our schools are becoming one too many and increasingly uncontrollable. Such cases in our schools are getting endless and one would ask what sort of training students in Ghanaian schools are being offered for the adult life ahead.
These acts were unknown and unheard of some 20 years ago in our basic schools. Our education system must not only focus on knowledge and skill acquisition to the detriment of sound character building emotional intelligence and moral development. Education has a major role to play in academic studies. This is understandable, but one of the traits that education teaches students is the sense of responsibility and also persistence, which encourages students to learn and maintain focus on what is important in life.
Behavioural problems in adolescence can make life difficult in adult life and for older people.
According to Biologists, it is normal and must be temporal, but if not tackled properly, can then become a cancer to society. It is said, that character building is based on six pillars, trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.
All of these can be imbibed in a child only through adequate education. Producing students with good grades is not enough to help them lead a fruitful and meaningful life.
An Irish Poet and Playwright, Oscar Wilde, puts this in an intriguing perspective. For him, “morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.”
This explains why people, especially the young ones for that matter, express their dislikes and frustrations through hooliganism and vandalism. Some even express this through the way they talk to their colleagues at the workplace, through interactions with others and in attitudes and behaviours.
The basis of the nation’s moral fibre is fast deteriorating and this is evidently clear at all levels of our society including Parliament. Something drastic and prompt action must be done to halt the unpleasant development.
Our students must not only be taught, but more importantly, encouraged to understand and appreciate, that morality chiefly requires the sacrifice of the people to play down their own short-term interests for the benefit of society.
Morality is not the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness. It is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality.”