The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) has stated that the ban on corporal punishments in Senior High Schools (SHS) has led to a rise in student misconduct.
The association is of the view that the ban on corporal punishments in secondary schools by the Ghana Education Service needs to be reviewed.
The President of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools, Alhaji Yakub Ibn Abubakas, said the level of indiscipline in Senior High Schools has reached a point where heads of schools think that the prohibition of corporal punishment encourages students to misbehave.
"From breaking common school rules, students are now engaged in the use of hard drugs, pushing down school fence walls and engaging in physical fights with knives and cutlasses. Vandalising teachers properties like cars and farms have become common," Alhaji Yakub Abubakas said.
Speaking at the 59th CHASS conference, the President of the association stated that CHASS was not against the prohibition of corporal punishment in secondary schools but they feel that the prohibition has emboldened the students to misbehave.
“Are we in the dilemma of spare the rod and spoil the child?” he quizzed.
It has been two years since the Ghana Education Service banned corporal punishments in all public and private basic and secondary schools in the country.
Recently, there has been a surge in student misconduct in secondary schools ranging from bullying, fighting and engaging in actions that have been prohibited by school authorities. Some people have linked these actions to the ban on corporal punishments in schools by the Ghana Education Service and they have urged the government agency to review its policy on prohibiting corporal punishments in schools.