The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), has asked its members not to go contrary to the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) directive that bans them from caning their students.
According to the association, a strict adherence to the order will be in their interest and save them from any punitive measure the service is likely to take against them.
The GES has recently instructed all schools to immediately adopt a new disciplinary toolkit together with alternative sanctions as measures for correcting pupils and students in schools other than canning.
In what has been received with mixed reactions, many have however backed the decision accusing teachers of going to the extreme in checking the inappropriate behaviours of their students.
But President of NAGRAT, Angel Carbonu, who believes using corporal punishment to discipline the child is the way to go, advised teachers to be mindful of whatever sanction the GES will take against them in default.
Speaking in an interview on a local TV station, Mr. Carbonu said the association has no other option than to welcome the order, abide by it and allow posterity to judge the outcomes.
“In the new code of conduct for teachers, it is stated clearly that when a teacher beats a student, the teacher will be arraigned before the disciplinary committee depending on the gravity of the situation. Therefore, I call on my teachers that as we speak today, there is a ban on corporal punishment. If you are a Maths or English teacher, go to the school and teach, carry your books and move out so that you will not be arraigned before a court that you have battered their child so that you are saved.”
“The conclusion that teachers cane students irresponsibly to make students timid is [problematic]. Although we know there are excesses, we will not oppose the ban. We’ll welcome any disciplinary approach GES brings but the outcome will determine whether it is right or wrong”, he stressed.
