Dr. Yaw Adutwum, the NPP’s Education Policy Committee’s Co-Chair and former Minister of Education, has opposed pleas for the reinstatement of corporal punishment in schools, claiming that counseling and well-structured disciplinary systems are more successful in controlling student behavior.
Dr. Adutwum encouraged schools to increase counseling services and give Deans of Discipline the authority to handle wrongdoing rather than using caning, speaking on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, September 8.
“I will not support a policy that allows children to be caned. I’ve seen systems where you counsel and guide. You’re firm and strict. Children may mess about, but you can still manage them with appropriate discipline.”
He mentioned that corrective interventions, such as assigning students responsibilities like cleaning school buildings, may help schools uphold discipline by forcing them to own up to their conduct.
He emphasized that the current disciplinary frameworks should be reinforced rather than substituted by corporal punishment, observing that “times have changed.”
Dr. Adutwum urged the government to give Deans of Discipline, who are chosen by their coworkers, the authority to manage student behavior well.
“Their peers choose them as demonstrations of all teachers. Their full-time job is to maintain school discipline. And it has been done. We now have them in the schools. He added that the new government ought to give them more authority and let these things work for us.
He contended that caning is not necessary to enforce discipline at the senior high school level, and he advised stakeholders to concentrate on counseling, guidance, and stern but non-violent disciplinary techniques.
His remarks are being made against a backdrop of increasing worries about disciplinary issues in senior high schools nationwide, with numerous institutions reporting cases of student misbehavior, conflicts, and the demolition of school property.
One of the most recent incidents included pupils from Mount Sinai Senior High School and Okuapemman Senior High School, whose altercation reportedly resulted in school property damage and increased security worries.
After the event, both schools were briefly shut down by the authorities in order to let the situation be brought under control and avoid any additional escalation.
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