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President Akufo Addo has intervened in the disciplinary action taken against the 8 China SHS Students by the Ghana Education Service.
In a press release dated 13th January, 2023, President Akufo Addo revealed that he has directed the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum to tell GES to look for another disciplinary measure to deal with the students rather than dismissal.
This comes after the Ghana Education Service (GES) dismissed eight students of the Chiana Senior High School in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region for making derogatory comments against President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
It will be recalled that the eight students in a viral video, last year, were seen making disparaging comments against the President and his free SHS policy.
Following their misconduct, the Management of the GES at the national level, in a statement, condemned the act and apologised to the President on behalf of the students, school and members of the public.
However, after extensive investigations into the conduct of the students, the Director General of the Ghana Education Service, Dr Eric Nkansah in a letter dated November 29, 2022, directed the dismissal of all eight students from the school.
A letter to the parents of one of the students explained that her conduct was “considered very undesirable and contrary to the acceptable standards of conduct generally required of any student in our Educational system in Ghana.”
The GES admonished the students to use the dismissal as “a major turning point in her life to bring the desired change in her behaviour and attitude towards life.”
Following this, the dismissed students of the Chiana Senior High School in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region have expressed remorse for using unprintable words on President Akufo-Addo and are pleading for forgiveness from the first gentleman of the land.
The eight students who were dismissed for insulting president Akufo-Addo were asked never to return to the school after investigations were launched into their misconduct.
Some of the students who spoke to Citi News said they didn’t mean to say what was uttered in the video which has since gone viral.
They said they were only imitating social trends.
Hamidu Huzaimah Daabu, one of the dismissed students said they were asked to leave the school on November 15, 2022, and when they were called for a meeting on January 11, they thought it was to announce their return only to be handed dismissal letters.
“It was yesterday [January 11] that they called us to come for a meeting, and I was thinking that they were calling us to come and do some manual punishment, but when we got there with our parents, we were given dismissal letters which made us cry before the headmistress and the district director of education.
“I am pleading for them to have mercy on us because we are left with a few months to complete [SHS] and come home, we are willing to sign a bond and any other punishment.”
“We were only imitating people on social media, and we didn’t know it will go this far, please have mercy on us,” she pleaded.
Another student, Plange Matteer said, “we are sorry for what we did, and we didn’t know what we were saying will go viral. They should please forgive us.”
