Education Minister convenes national summit to battle rising student misconduct crisis in Ghana’s Schools

Ghana’s Education Minister has pledged to convene a high-level national gathering before July’s close to grapple with what he characterises as an alarming deterioration in student behaviour across the country’s senior high school system.

The conference, designed to marshal the country’s intellectual and institutional resources around the problem, will draw participants from across the spectrum of civil society, religious communities, academia and parental bodies in a coordinated bid to identify root causes and forge solutions to mounting discipline crises on school campuses.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Haruna Iddrisu framed the initiative as a reflection of governmental resolve to move beyond piecemeal responses and instead tackle the phenomenon through sustained national dialogue.

“Before the end of July this year, we will convene a major national conference on stemming the growing indiscipline in our senior high schools across the country,” he announced.

The government is currently assessing potential host cities, with both Sunyani and Kumasi emerging as candidates to serve as the venue for what promises to be a consequential gathering.

The Minister stressed that the challenge before the nation transcends the boundaries of the education sector alone, requiring instead a whole-society mobilisation.

Students’ deteriorating conduct reflects complexities that no single institution can address in isolation.

“We are assembling as a country to respond to the growing threat and unacceptable behaviour emerging on our school campuses across the country,” he stated, underscoring the gravity with which government views the situation.

The conference will draw together an expansive coalition of voices — representatives from civil society networks, university scholars, clerics from both Christian and Muslim traditions, mothers and fathers worried about their children’s schools, and seasoned education professionals whose experience spans decades of institutional work.

“We intend to bring together civil society, academia, the church, the Muslim community, parents and educationists to give us a roadmap on how to deal with it and to identify the root causes of it,” Iddrisu explained.

The announcement arrives in the wake of other Education Service initiatives aimed at curbing misconduct, including recent directives on standardising school celebrations and limiting the lavish gift-giving that had increasingly characterised post-examination festivities.

The Minister made clear that the conference would not be a mere talking shop but rather a foundation upon which decisive action would be built.

“And then we would deal decisively with it,” he concluded, signalling that solutions emerging from the dialogue would be translated into concrete policy and enforcement mechanisms.

Yaw Opoku Amoako

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