The Minority Ranking Member of Parliament’s Education Committee of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Peter Nortsu-Kotoe (MP) has described the dismissal of eight students of the Chiana Senior High School as too harsh and retrogressing.
According to the minority, even though the behaviour of the students must be condemned at all levels, the outright dismissal is too harsh and retrogressing at a time when the government is making a frantic effort to provide free education to all.
In a statement signed by Nortsu-Kotoe said in this age and time when there is increased advocacy and a renewed focus on increasing access to education any decision that takes a child away from the classroom can only be seen as an absolute drawback to this renewed focus and objective.
“It is therefore, regrettable to learn of the decision of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to dismiss the eight female students of the Chiana SHS in the Kassena Nankana West District of the Upper East region for insulting the President of the Republic some months ago,” he stated.
Mr. Nortsu-Kotoe said whereas the minority is against the misconduct of the eight students, and condemns same, “we wish to state that the decision by the GES to dismiss them is harsh and retrogressive.”
“We believe the eight students like every other Ghanaian child deserve to be in school in line with Article 25 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and also Goal (4) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.”
As a minority, “we wish to call on the Ghana Education Service to review its decision and to ensure that the education of the victims is not truncated in this manner.”
“We are also by this statement, urging the GES to proffer an alternative but corrective punishment to the eight students,” the statement revealed.
He said this “we believe would be in the best interest of our collective goal to ensure that every Ghanaian child has access to formal education.”
In conclusion, the minority wishes to appeal to the President, to use his good offices to pardon these students as he did in 2020 when a group of some students misconducted themselves towards him.”
