The Ghana National Association of Teachers, GNAT, says the decision to sanction the head-teachers of schools whose pupils were reported to have joined last week’s ‘Wongbo’ demonstration, was heavy handed.
The association contends that, the head-teachers cannot be held responsible for such spontaneous action of pupils.
[contextly_sidebar id=”jKi0JOLToSZXxmYloChfwvZkyjCeYi1A”]The head-teachers in question have since written to apologise to the Ministry and the GES for their pupils’ behavior, after they were cautioned.
The NPP hit embarked on a demonstration exercise to protest what they say is inconsistent power supply and the worsening economic situation in the country of which some pupils joined in the exercise.
Government has threatened to sanction head-teachers of the schools where the pupils took part in the demonstration.
In an interview with Citi News the General Secretary of GNAT, Mawunyo Demenya indicated that the Ministry of Education and GES should be measured in any decision they take against the said head-teachers.
“We have seen elderly people in offices who come out of their offices to join demonstration. Even such elderly people act spontaneously in these situations what about primary school kids. How will the head teacher who is busily working control such kids. I learnt it was during break time. They should be very realistic here. The ministry and GES are taking this incident too far when they say they are pursuing the matter. This might dent the image of the teachers.”
Mr. Demenya added that “I don`t see how the headteachers should be held liable for the spontaneous act by these children.”
Meanwhile the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, CCT, has described the directive as an unfortunate one. The president of the group, Ernest Opoku said, “The directive is an unfortunate one.
I was very surprised when I heard the Deputy Minister of education say that they will caution the headteachers in question. The Ministry cannot punish these Headmasters because that is not an offence in the GES code of ethics.”
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By: Kojo Agyeman/citifmonline.com/Ghana/citifmonline.com/Ghana