In a landmark decision, the Human Rights Court has declared that the New Nation School, located in Ashaley Botwe, treated its students with excessive harshness which constituted a violation of the children’s rights to freedom of expression.
The court’s decision highlighted instances where students were subjected to punitive measures for voicing their opinions or raising concerns regarding life in the school.
This was as a result of a lawsuit brought by the parents of four children and now former students of the New Nations School, challenging the unreasonable punishment meted out to the children for their alleged activities online during the school’s vacation.
In a judgment delivered on 12th November 2024, Her Ladyship, Barbara Tetteh-Charway (Mrs.) was of the opinion that the decision by the New Nation’s School to suspend the children indefinitely constituted a violation of their right to freedom of expression, thought and conscience.
According to the court, it was clear that the children were not responsible for the creation of the alleged offensive videos posted on social media under the Instagram, handle “free NNS students please …we are suffering” as well as the TikTok account, “newnationschoolsucks”.
Even though the school had accused the students, who are all minors, of watching and liking supposedly offensive videos on social media, the court declared that the act of liking a social media post, may indicate one’s endorsement or approval of the content.
However, in the case of children, some may like a social media post merely because it is funny in a grotesque way, or as a way of identifying with a certain group.
Therefore, by coming down so hard on such children, their independence of thought and expression may be crushed. Furthermore, the court likened the indefinite suspension of the children to using a sledgehammer to kill an ant.
“As budding citizens, the applicants must be encouraged to express themselves in a healthy manner not only on social media but also, in their daily interactions with people.
“The role of schools in shaping the worldview of children is so critical that in disciplining them, one must be cautious not to impair their ability to express themselves freely as that would be a greater evil”, said the Judge.
As a consequence of this suit, the court ordered the New Nation School to expunge all negative information from the testimonials of the children, as the school is reported to have done, as such information has the potential to jeopardize the future of the children.
The children were represented by James Gawuga Nkrumah and Karen Nti-Dadzie who are known for their advocacy for the rights of children in Ghana.
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