Parliament’s Human Rights Committee has called for the reintroduction and strengthening of safe disciplinary measures in senior high schools following a viral video allegedly showing teachers assaulting a student at Techiman Senior High School.
In a press release issued on Monday, November 2, the Committee urged the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to work together to address indiscipline in second-cycle institutions.
The statement, signed by the Committee’s Chairperson and Kumawu MP Ernest Yaw Anim, expressed concern over what it described as a growing trend of indiscipline involving headteachers, housemasters, teachers and students.
“The Committee takes a strong view of such action, as well as the increasing rate and trend of indiscipline stemming from second-cycle institutions in Ghana,” the statement said.
The Committee said there was an urgent need to restore safe disciplinary standards to help address the situation, warning that failure to do so could undermine Ghana’s efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4, which seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education.
“The Committee believes there is an urgent need for the reintroduction of safe disciplinary standard measures to curb the rising culture of indiscipline,” it stated.
It further warned that indiscipline and the use of unsafe disciplinary practices could affect the protection of students’ rights under Ghanaian and international law.
The Committee cited Article 25(1) of the 1992 Constitution, Section 8 of the Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560), and Article 28(2) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Reaffirming its commitment to protecting the right to education, the Committee said it remained “deeply committed to preserving the sanctity of Education in Ghana” and ensuring that quality education is guaranteed as a fundamental human right.
The call comes amid renewed attention to discipline and student safety in Ghana’s second-cycle schools following the reported incident at Techiman Senior High School.
