Matthew Opoku Prempeh – Minister of Education
In a bid to create an enabling environment for children to be attracted to school, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has announced an outright ban on the use of canes in both private and public schools.
Director General of GES, Mr. Jacob Maabobr Kor, who announced this argued that creating enabling environment for school means students should not be threatened or not feel they are under siege by school authorities.
The GES, he said, has been supported with an alternative punishment manual from USAID which will be made available for all heads of institutions to apply. “As such, henceforth, the GES will not support any teacher who is put before court for caning students.”
Mr. Jacob MaabobrKor made the statement as an invited guest at the 86th Speech and Prize Giving Day of Accra Academy Senior High School in Accra last Saturday.
The colorful event which was held under the theme: Making Secondary Education Relevant-The Role of Information and Communication Technology was sponsored by the 1986 year group which brought together past and present “Bleoobii” locally and abroad.
Mr. Jacob MaabobrKor explained that there are different ways by which pupils or students could be punished, citing for instance, giving such students assignments while their mates were playing during break time.
The Headmaster, Samuel Ofori-Agyei in his report recounted contributions of committed ‘Bleobii’ (Old Students) to projects, scholarships, professional advice and financial support and commented that it was in that spirit that the mantle of sponsoring the 86th event was being done. “As a birthday gift, Bleoo ’86 is providing a fully equipped computer laboratory” he informed the gathering and commended the group for their support.
The Group Committee Chairman of the Bleoo ’86, Nii Adotey Mingle said “We are proud old students of this great institution and in our deliberations and social gatherings over the years, we harbored the dream of giving back to Accra Academy,” he disclosed adding that the group settled on supporting in the area of Information Communication Technology (ICT) since the use of ICT today impacts on the lives of every living being on earth.
Bleoobi Group Captain Joshua Mensah-Larkai was honoured with a citation by the sponsors of the event, Bleoo 86. He was the Commanding Officer of the UN Operations in Cote d’Ivoire (UNOCI) GHAV.19. In addition to distinguishing himself and holding the flag of Ghana high, he was also the Parade Commander during the 60th anniversary parade at the Independence Square on 6th March, 2017.