Parents and guardians of the embattled students of Chiana Senior High School (SHS) in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region have expressed gratitude to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for intervening in the matter.
“We are happy and grateful to the President for the intervention and all stakeholders who brought this to the attention of the President,” Mr Inusah Hamidu, a guardian of one of the dismissed students told the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Chiana.
Eight girls in their final year were summarily dismissed by the Ghana Education Service on Wednesday, January 11, 2023, for insulting and using unprintable words on the President in a viral video in November 2022.
The affected girls and their parents and other members of the public urged the President to have mercy on them and restore their right to education.
As a result, the Ministry of Education, in a statement signed by Mr Kwasi Kwarteng, Spokesperson of the Ministry and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Friday, said the President has intervened and asked for alternative punishment for the affected students.
“The President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has intervened in the above subject after his attention was drawn to it.
“Consequently, the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has directed the Ghana Education Service to consider an alternative disciplinary action instead of dismissal,” the statement said.
Mr Hamidu said although the alternative disciplinary action was unknown, he believed the stakeholders involved would comply with the President’s directive and allow the girls to return to school.
He said the intervention of the President was a big relief to them and expressed optimism that it would enable the girls to be able to prepare for their West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Mr Hamidu noted that in as much as there was the need for parents and guardians to chastise the girls for the bad behaviour exhibited, they needed to also provide counselling and advice to the girls to enable them to stay focused in school.
He said, “we are a humble family of practicing Muslims and we would not want any of our children to go out there and insult the elderly especially not mere person than the President, so, we have advised her and she is more reserved and quiet and I know other parents have equally done same, so we are praying that they will call them back and they will stay focus to write their exams and come back home.”
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Meanwhile, Madam Anne Estella Kye-eebo, Upper East Acting Regional Director of the Ghana Education Service, noted that a stakeholder meeting would be held on the way forward.
“The President is the father of all, and he has spoken, so there is nothing I can do than to obey. Besides, I am a mother, and they are my children, and we all want the development of the region, but it is not only my decision to take, but we must also meet the stakeholders involved to know what to do,” she added.