By Florence Afriyie Mensah
Kumasi, Nov. 03, GNA – Dr. Asare Yeboah, the outgoing Headmaster of Osei Tutu Senior High School (SHS), has appealed to the government to strive to finalise work on the new Code of Conduct for students in second cycle institutions.
This would aid the students to be consciously aware of their actions, and to develop socially acceptable behaviours.
“As of now, we do not know what to do. Sometimes you must use your own discretion in disciplinary issues relating to students,” he bemoaned.
Dr. Yeboah, speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), on the sidelines of a retirement thanksgiving service, at Akropong in the Ashanti Region, said discipline had a direct link with academic achievements and good citizenship.
Following the introduction of the ‘Free SHS’ programme in 2017, the Ghana Education Service (GES) is preparing a new document to serve as a guide and reference material on how to maintain discipline in the second cycle institutions.
The new code was informed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It spells out that to achieve proper student behaviour, punishment or sanctions in this new Code of Conduct for Students shall be positive, corrective and reformational.
The focus of teachers must be on counselling and directing students to behave well.
Teachers as duty bearers and members of the GES, have a responsibility to uphold and protect children’s rights.
Dr. Yeboah described as unacceptable the high level of indiscipline among the present generation of students.
The continued delay in releasing the new Code of Conduct, he said, had left a vacuum which was being exploited by deviant students.
GNA