Story By: Dennis Ato Keelson
The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has empowered the Ghana Education Service (GES) and school administrators to strictly enforce discipline in second-cycle institutions.
This directive follows heated debates on social media about students’ hairstyles and grooming standards.
Speaking at Mawuli School’s 75th Anniversary celebrations, Mr. Iddrisu emphasised that schools were meant to shape character, not host beauty pageants.
The Minister’s directive is a response to growing concerns over indiscipline in schools, particularly with regards to students’ hairstyles and grooming standards.
“We’ll not tolerate today, we’ll not tolerate it tomorrow, in so long as we’re moulding character,” he stressed. “If we give in to hair today, tomorrow it will be shoes and the next day it will be the way they dress.”
Mr. Iddrisu urged heads of institutions to take full control of student behavior and enforce rules fairly and professionally. “Anybody who thinks that your child will walk into any institution of learning as if that child was to attend a beauty contest, the school environment is not for that purpose and not cut for that purpose, and will not tolerate that as an institution,” he warned.
He also emphasised the importance of fairness and professionalism in enforcing school rules. He cautioned that any teacher found abusing students would face severe consequences. “
We will not tolerate indiscipline in our schools, including cases where teachers abuse learners. Any teacher found taking advantage of a student will face strict sanctions,” he added.
