The insulting girls at Chiana SHS, the egg-throwing boy at York, and the (non)parallel punishments

Young people's (mis)behaviour can occasionally disrupt social order. For instance, in a school environment, the handling of disrespectful and rowdy student behaviors has been a challenge for authorities since time immemorial, but not to the extent that it is now.

Two incidents of youth rowdiness in November 2022—one involving a UK tertiary student on November 9 and the other involving Ghanaian pre-tertiary students on November 14—made coincidental headlines in the media:

The young chap who appeared to throw eggs directly at Charles has since been charged with "threatening behaviour," according to a report from the Cosmopolitan.

In a like manner, the Graphic Online reported, "Our attention has been drawn to a viral video circulating on social media involving some students misconducting themselves and using vulgar and unprintable words on the President of our land." "The management of Ghana Education Service (GES) condemns this unfortunate act, which is against every educational and moral principle in our society."

The Ghanaian media outlets have been deluged with viral comments and opinions since the latter incident went viral. My article isn't meant to irk readers at all; rather, it's intended to spotlight the both positive and negative aspects of the way both incidents were managed.

Given that both incidents involved the use of vulgar and unprintable words against powerful authorities (a king and a president), occurred in the same month, and involved students, it seems appropriate to draw some parallels.

Now, in the UK Patrick Thelwell, the 23-year-old University of York student who was alleged to have thrown eggs directly at the royals, was subsequently accosted by the police.

Despite his wrongdoing against His Royal Majesty, he was only restrained from publicly carrying eggs 500 meters (later reduced to 300 meters) away from the king until he changed his ways. So, one might ask, was this punishment appropriate given the offense?

When comparing Patrick Thelwell's punishment with the recent action the Ghana Education Service (GES) took against the 8 misbehaved Chiana girls, what is unclear is how, amid a number of apologies and pleas from well-meaning organizations like Minority in Parliament, parents, civil society, and CHASS, among others, the GES could still ignore every apologetic voice and take such drastic measures against these already traumatic and remorseful students.

Well, insulting the president, as the GES claimed, is "very undesirable and contrary to the acceptable standards of the conduct generally required of any student in Ghana’s educational system."

Yet alas! In response to the insult from his own FSHS girls (teens he has committed to educating for free), President Akufo-Addo today displayed complete fatherly concern, much like King Charles, and asked that the girls receive an alternative punishment through official communication.

In all this, the role of the GES in the handling of the issue was heavily criticized. To add my voice, I find the institution to be overzealous and high-handed in the matter. What I rather expected was for the institution to act like the Biblical Moses (Numbers 14 vs. 13–18) and speak to "God" to remain long-suffering and merciful, but they couldn't.

Therefore, it is important to emphasize that our approach to punishment should be transformative when it comes to the upbringing of children. Instead of focusing on the "symptoms," it must seek to understand the "root causes" of the structural and systemic issues causing such decadence.

But as long as we’re unwilling to trace our steps back and reconnect with our ancient path of African-style child upbringing, we should brace ourselves because we’re yet to see the worst from these younger adults.

And if all we know is that we have to cut and paste the culture of the colonizers, why do you have to sack them now when they aren’t sacking their own for similar offenses?

In any case, today President Akufo-Addo is making headlines for his display of fatherly compassion. And much like how King Charles handled the egg-throwing incident in Patrick Thelwell’s scenario, we laud the president for taking a pause at the Chiana girls' outright dismissal and letting them go and sin no more.

I can only hope that the President will go beyond this act of pardoning and once again charge the GES to redefine the circumstances in which pre-tertiary schools can enforce discipline that makes more Ghanaian sense!

Komla Lokoe
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