Youth Without Borders, National Youth Authority sensitize students on violence

Youth Without Borders (YWB) Ghana and the National Youth Authority (NYA) have engaged the Kumasi Armed Forces Senior High Technical School students on the proper grievance address system in school.

This comes in the face of the worrying increase in student violence in Senior High schools (SHSs) across the country.

The programme was on the theme “Addressing Violence in Senior High Schools; Instilling Democratic Principles in Young People”.

In recent times, there have been several reports of violent incidents where students went on a rampage to destroy school properties in protest against school authorities.

A notable incident in the Ashanti Region was where students of Islamic SHS blocked vehicular traffic in front of the school because vehicles were knocking down their colleagues.

Addressing the students, DSP Godwin Ahianyo, the public affairs director at the Ashanti Regional Police Command, explained the short-term and long-term consequences of school violence.

He said violent incidents in school cause injuries to other students, damage school properties and disrupt the academic calendar.

DSP Ahianyo stressed the future consequences violence in schools could have on the lives of the culprits who are publicly exposed.

Samuel Gariba, the Programme Officer and Executive Director of Youth Without Borders, also said students in SHSs do not realize that their public conduct has everything to do with the legal regime governing public order.

He explained that over the years, students in high schools have indulged in violence without recourse to the ramifications on themselves and the immediate environment, and it is this same attitude that is transferred to tertiary institutions between one hall and the other.

He admonished the students to maintain school properties in good condition.

Also speaking to the students, Mr David Oteng Asamoah, the Metro Director of NYA, emphasized that the sensitization aimed at helping students to know how to channel their grievances for redress as students.

He added that NYA has always sought various avenues to engage SHSs on the prevailing violent tendencies occurring on their campuses.