The Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service will not interfere with investigations into the alleged case of bullying at Adisadel College, says Deputy Minister of Education, Reverend Ntim-Fordjour.
He, therefore, urged management of the school to cooperate with the investigative body.
Reverend Ntim-Fordjour said an investigative team set up to deal with the case was also expected to submit its report to the ministry by close of yesterday.
The Deputy Minister of Education said based on the final report that would be submitted, further action would be taken to resolve the matter to ensure that such issues did not recur at the school.
Speaking to the media here in Cape Coast after meeting with students and staff of the school yesterday, Rev. Ntim-Fordjour called for an end to all sorts of bullying in schools, stating that, any student found to be engaging in such acts would be made to face the consequences.
He cautioned all students across the country to abide by the required code of conduct and discipline in the various schools, adding that the ministry had directed the school to tighten the monitoring and supervision on how they mentor the students.
According to him, the culture of reporting was an issue that had been overlooked and the culture where people looked on when things went wrong must be rooted out.
The ministry, he indicated, would not withdraw the psycho-social or counselling support system that had been put in place to enable the students to fully overcome the traumatic experience during the incident.
The injured student, he stated, had undergone thorough medical examination and the result showed that he was well and that there was no harm.
He indicated that, the Ministry would not obstruct justice as it had asked management of the school to cooperate with ongoing investigations by the police and the office of the Attorney-General.
“The school authorities have so far cooperated with the investigative bodies regarding the incident of assault in one of the school’s dormitories,” he said.
Rev. Ntim-Fordjour stated that, the cooperation from the school authorities was very crucial in facilitating efforts of the law enforcement agencies towards ensuring that the needed action had been taken.
He indicated that the law enforcement agencies, were doing their work and that the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service could not obstruct justice, saying, “There is a place of law and a place for our internal administrative disciplinary codes”.
Meanwhile, he said the SHS student seen in a video assaulting a colleague at Adisadel College (ADISCO) has been arrested by the police and cautioned on causing harm and assault. His suspension from the school is also in force.
The suspension given to the injured student had, however, been revoked and the victim together with other students were currently going through psycho- social therapy by a team of counsellors and psychologists from the regional and national level
FROM DAVID O. YARBOI-TETTEH, CAPE COAST
