SHS violence: Government must review discipline policy – IFEST
The Ministry of Education should first assess the effectiveness of existing disciplinary policies in senior high schools before introducing new measures to tackle rising cases of indiscipline, Executive Director of the Institute for Education Studies (IFEST), Dr Peter Anti, has advised.
Dr Peter Anti, Executive Director of the Institute for Education Studies (IFEST), has called for the Ministry of Education to thoroughly examine existing disciplinary policies in senior high schools before implementing new measures to address the growing instances of indiscipline. He emphasized that decisions regarding school discipline should be grounded in evidence and thorough research rather than assumptions about the root causes of recent violent incidents.
Dr Anti believes the government possesses the capability to conduct a comprehensive assessment to identify the underlying factors contributing to indiscipline and evaluate whether existing policies require revision. Specifically, he questioned whether the decision made around 2015-16 to abolish corporal punishment and introduce a positive discipline toolkit has been evaluated nearly a decade later.
He emphasized the need to assess the impact of the policy shift on the current levels of indiscipline. Speaking on Citi FM, Dr Anti cautioned against hastily attributing the recent incidents of violence to the abolition of corporal punishment. He urged authorities to strengthen security in senior high schools, suggesting that relying solely on watchmen at school entrances may not be adequate to detect potential threats and prevent conflicts from escalating.
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