Parents can deal with ‘abusive’ teachers who beat their kids – GES

Parents whose children return from schools with signs of them being canned are at liberty to deal ruthlessly with the teachers involved.

Director of the Guidance and Counselling Unit of the Ghana Education Service (GES) , Ivy Kumi, who gave this charge insists canning students without recourse to the approved alternative sanction provided by the GES amounts to assault, hence parents should do all they can to take on the teacher in question in such an instance.

Madam Kumi, who spoke to newsmen said “since caning and all other corporal punishments are forms of abuse, parents can take it up. If a teacher beats a child and he or she suffers marks on the body, it is an abuse. The student has been battered and the parent  can decide to report to the police.”

The GES has reiterated its ban on caning in primary and secondary schools ordering all schools to immediately adopt a new disciplinary toolkit together with alternative sanctions as measures for correcting pupils and students in schools.

The toolkit indicated that “apart from the physical pain corporal punishment inflicts on children, this approach also causes significant emotional damage. Some of the lasting effects of this method of disciplining school children include physical scars, emotional scars (trauma, fear, timidity etc.) and violent behaviour.”

Ghanaians and major bodies who matter in the education sector have expressed mixed reaction over the subject which gained national interest  as they continue to weigh its pros and cons.

Corporal punishment drives students away from school

Additionally, Ivy Kumi intimated that, the fear of being canned, knocked on the head, pinched or asked to kneel down  in school is a contributory factor of the high rate of school drop out usually recorded.

‘Save yourself from trouble, don’t flout GES’ ban– NAGRAT advises members

The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has asked it members not to go contrary to the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) directive that bans them from caning their students.

According to the association, a strict adherence to the order will be in their interest and save them from any punitive measure the service is likely to take against them.

President of NAGRAT, Angel Carbonu who believes using corporal punishment to discipline the child is the way to go, advised teachers to be mindful of whatever sanction the GES will take against them in default.

Ban on caning will break down discipline in schools – Methodist Bishop warns

Ghana risks a total breakdown of discipline in schools and within the larger Ghanaian society, if the Ghana Education Service, GES, continues to relax caning, otherwise known as corporal punishment in schools.

That’s according to Rt. Rev. Samuel K. Osabutey, Diocesan Bishop of Accra, Methodist Church, Ghana.

Rt. Rev. Samuel Osabutey said placing a total ban on caning will be counterproductive, and will have dire consequences on general discipline among students.

Source: citi