The Ministry of Education has said the Ghana Education Service (GES) cautioned headteachers of the schools whose pupils joined the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) ‘Wɔn Gbo’ demonstration because they breached the rules of the service.
The NPP hit the street last Wednesday to protest the what they describe as erratic power supply and the worsening economic situation in the country of which some pupils joined in the exercise.
[contextly_sidebar id=”ZDHndAugtoAe6JXpwO9lJaxxYAG110hY”]Some of the pupils who joined the demonstration told Citi News’ Pearl Akanya Ofori that “We are joining because we don’t have light.”
Days after the massive protest however,the GES cautioned headteachers who permitted their students to join the demonstration.
The Deputy Education Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa was the first to reveal this on Accra based Radio Gold on Saturday said GES is still “looking into the matter so that full disciplinary action will be carried out.”
Government has however been cautioned not take any disciplinary actions against these teachers.
Justifying the GES’ decision on Eyewitness News on Monday, Mr Okudzeto said the GES’ decision to sanction the headteachers was legitimate since they[headteachers] put the lives of the children involved in the demonstration at risk.
“…as we do know, demonstrations are potentially violent. We have a history in this country of people who have lost their lives or people who have been injured due to demonstrations so it is against our guidelines and our policy that children should be allowed to join demonstrations. Anything could have happened. They could have gotten hurt. They could have been trampled upon , it is really against our regulation and that is why the Ghana Education Service has queried the teachers of the four schools,” he explained
Okudzeto wondered why the headteachers of the respective schools gave the green light for their students to participate when they [students] are sent to school to “ be kept from harm”
He stressed that the Ministry of Education will not sit down aloof and allow the rights of the school children involved to be exploited by politicians.
Mr. Ablakwa clarified that the students can be allowed to participate in the March 6 independence day activities because there are well laid out security measures to protect them.
In a related development, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has cautioned government against any attempt to sanction or punish head teachers of the schools whose pupils joined the party’s demonstration.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana