SHS girls’ dismissal: GES could have handled the case better – Aheto-Tsegah

A former Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Mr. Charles Aheto-Tsegah has expressed his surprise and disappointment in the way some key people of influence behaved in connection to the dismissal the GES meted out to the eight girls of the Chiana Senior High School for verbally assaulting President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He has also cautioned the spokespersons who came out to speak on behalf of the ministry of education and for the GES on this matter to be more circumspect and exercise more thoughtfulness when commenting on such sensitive issues in the media in order not to create tension and anxieties.

Mr. Aheto-Tsegah told Helen Appiah Ampofo on the 3FM Sunrise Morning Show on Friday 13 January, 2023 that if you put education in the hands of people who don’t know education and don’t understand how to deal with children because it is not their core mandate, you get this kind of knee jerk reactions to please other appointing authorities”

“I am talking about the Ministry of Education and GES spokespersons who came out and made noise around this whole matter the way they did. It’s very unfortunate. They should be very tempered with the way they do things; we don’t like those anxieties throwing about and purporting things they don’t understand. It is advice to them and I hope they take it.” Mr. Aheto-Tsegah said

According to the former Director General of the Ghana Education Service, President Akufo-Addo’s intervention in the dismissal of the eight girls have provided the avenue for GES to do things differently so that the punishments would correct the students and get them to do the right things rather than destroying their education and future.

He added that the girls at the center of the controversy did what was expected of them and formed part of the disciplinary process by going down on their knees to apologize for their misdemeanor and making it go viral like they did in that irresponsible video.

Mr. Tsegah opines that it is just unfortunate that the GES could have handled this case in a more appropriate way than the manner they handled it to create a brouhaha that attracted the public uproar. However, it is not surprising to him that the President has intervened in the matter knowing very well his background as a human right lawyer.

“I knew that the president was not even privy to a lot of the things the people at the GES were doing in connection with this matter. I am happy that the president has brought this matter to an end in a very amicable manner but the most important thing is that the girls get back to school.”

In a statement issued by the Ministry of Education dated 13 January, 2023 and signed by its spokesperson Kwasi Kwarteng indicates that President Akufo-Addo has intervened in the disciplinary action taken against eight students of Chiana Senior High School.

Source: 3news.com|Ghana