Child rights activist faults Ejisuman SHS for expulsion of 7 students

A child rights activist, Bright Appiah, has faulted authorities at the Ejisuman Senior High School after the expulsion of seven female students from the boarding house over a viral video.

He said the authorities appeared more concerned about the school’s reputation than reforming the teenagers.

The students, all final year students, were punished for using mobile phones which is against the rules of the Ghana Education Service, a letter to the Ashanti Regional Education Director said.

The letter also accused the students of “intentionally uploading a video on social media where unprintable words that border on sex were spewed out. Damaging the image of the school which is recovering from the 2017 scandal, in a video in school uniform”.

But coming to the defence of the students, Bright Appiah said on Starr FM in an interview monitored by theghanareport.com;

“The school’s own preliminary investigation points to the fact that, the phones that the students used was not a phone the students brought to the school.

“That activity took place during the visiting hours which somebody brought in the phone. So, you can’t even conclude that the children own the phone and for that matter, they used it for that activity.”

The child rights activist strongly believes the school has rather damaged the lives of the teenagers. The letter communicating their expulsion to the GES has gone viral.

He faulted the authorities for publishing the names of the students.

“They’ve damaged the lives of the children… We’ve not handled anything about the children. Even the school publishing the names of the students is a total violation of the rights of these children.

“Because in law, the dignity and rights of children must be protected even if they’ve committed offence. So, the issue of they punishing them is not right” he explained.

The activist said even in the case of murder, the law provides that the child accused of the offence must be treated with dignity and privacy protected.

Way forward

Bright Appiah prescribed some measures the school must take to address and deal with the matter.

He said the authorities are expected to set up a committee including a clinical psychologist to help understand the behaviour exhibited by the students.

The child rights advocate added that there is a need for a rehabilitation program for the children who were expelled from the boarding house.

He believes such steps can help correct what he described as social misconduct on the part of the children.