By Patrick Ofoe Nudzi
Accra, Sept. 24, GNA – Madam Janet Sarney-Kuma, Director of Capacity Development and Outreach, National Peace Council (NPC), has urged young people to reject violence, retaliation and insults, and embrace dialogue, respect and peaceful means of resolving conflicts.
She said young people did not need to fight to prove their strength, stressing that reporting incidents of violence early and seeking help were signs of responsibility rather than cowardice.
Speaking during a press briefing on an overarching theme of “Shaping Minds, Securing Peace: Educating Youth Against Violence,” Madam Sarney-Kuma said Council’s school engagement and peace education initiatives had been impactful.
She said the theme captured the need to prepare young people to make peaceful choices, noting that Ghana could not secure future peace by responding only to violence after it occurred.
She said schools played a critical role in shaping young people because they were not only places for academic learning but also environments where students learnt to relate to others, manage differences and understand their responsibilities as citizens.
She said the NPC was therefore moving “upstream” from responding to conflicts to strengthening attitudes and relationships that could prevent disagreements from escalating into violence.
“Conflict is part of human interaction; violence does not have to be,” she said, adding that mediation was not a sign of weakness and choosing dialogue over retaliation was an act of strength.
Madam Sarney-Kuma said rising incidents of student clashes, bullying and destruction of property, including fatal stabbings in some institutions, had become a major concern in senior high schools.
She said the concern prompted her Directorate to undertake a second-cycle school sensitisation campaign across eight senior high schools in the Greater Accra Region between July 22 and August 21, 2026.
The campaign, she explained, combined presentations on the NPC’s mandate under the National Peace Council Act, 2011 (Act 818), with interactive sessions on conflict, tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
She said she was joined by Madam Susan Akosua Aryeetey and Madam Georgette Naa Dede Francios of the Governing Board’s Research and Advocacy Committee, with an estimated 12,650 students engaged across the eight schools.
Madam Sarney-Kuma said students in all the schools took a Peace Pledge, committing themselves to peaceful conduct and to serving as peace ambassadors in their respective communities.
She said students raised concerns including inadequate accommodation for the religious obligations of Muslim students, the carrying of minor weapons to inter-school sporting events because of fear of intimidation, increasing bullying of junior students by seniors, and the need for more frequent NPC engagement with school counsellors.
She said the concerns had been referred to school management and flagged to the NPC and the Ghana Education Service, while they were also informing plans to expand Peace Clubs and strengthen counselling support.
Madam Sarney-Kuma called for the expansion of Peace Clubs, periodic follow-up sensitisation, stronger school counselling units and structured guidance for students.
She appealed to the media to highlight young people who prevented violence and chose dialogue over retaliation, saying sometimes “the most important peace story is the conflict that never happened because someone chose peace.”
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Odeng Adade
Patrick Ofoe Nudzi