Senior high school (SHS) students who molest or bully any fresh student will face sanctions including dismissal, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has warned.
It said heads of schools had been empowered to look out for bullies to sanction or dismiss them depending on the gravity of the offence.
Additionally, house masters and mistresses had also been tasked to watch out for senior students who bully their juniors.
According to the GES, it would not tolerate such behaviours from senior students hence the empowerment of the heads.
The Director of the Secondary Education Division of the GES, Mr Michael Inkoom, who made this known in an interview with the Junior Graphic, therefore, advised continuing students to desist from the bad practice of harassing new students, especially with the arrival of the Form One students.
“The continuing students, particularly the third-year students should direct their focus on their 2016 May-June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) rather than chasing the Form Ones all over the place,” he added.
Most fresh students who have been placed in SHSs and technical institutes (TIs) under the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) were expected to report to school for full academic activities on November 3. Officially, they were supposed to have reported on October 28 but the delay in the release of the placement notices compelled the extension of the date for reporting.
As of the time of going to press, 408,834 out of a total of 440,112 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates had been placed in SHSs and TIs.
Mr Inkoom asked fresh students to be law-abiding and respect authority so that they would not become victims of sanctions.
Parents of both fresh and continuing students, he said, should also advise their children to abide by school rules so that their stay in school would not be truncated through unruly behaviour.
This year’s placement exercise has not been without controversy as students posted in some senior high schools have still not been admitted due to inadequate accommodation facilities.
The schools which are in the Central, Ashanti, Volta and Eastern regions claimed they do not have the facilities to cater for the students.
According to them, the students far exceeded the number of students they requested for.
However, the GES has directed all heads to admit students that have been placed in their schools or face sanctions.
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Source: Graphic Online