4 students caught flogging colleagues with cutlass handed over to police — Accra Academy
The management of Accra Academy Senior High School has referred four students—three in their final year and one in their first year—to the Ghana Police Service.
The students were seen in a viral social media video flogging their colleagues with a cutlass.
A statement released by the school on Sunday, February 2, said the incident occurred on January 17, but the victims did not report it to school authorities.
“[However], as soon as the video came to our attention, we sprang into action to investigate and address the situation,” the statement added.
The school said it had contacted the parents and guardians of those involved and directed all the perpetrators, who are day students, to stay away from the school premises until further notice.
The students involved have been identified as Shadad Aliu, a.k.a. Kester (IVA 1), Haleem Jibril, a.k.a. Chopper (3Bus 5), Ahmed Dauda, a.k.a. Foreigner (3GA S), and Richard Ninsin, a.k.a. Poisonous (SGA 5).
“Preliminary investigations reveal that the machete used by the boys was brought from their home and was not taken from the school,” the statement noted.
Reacting to the incident, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) lamented the decline of discipline and morality in Ghanaian schools, attributing it to the limited authority given to school management in recent years.
“As a nation, we have lost character and conscience. We are now training people with knowledge, but their character and conscience are lacking. If care is not taken, we will all be in trouble in the coming years. This is something policymakers must take a serious look at,” Thomas Musah, General Secretary of GNAT, stated in an interview with Channel One TV.
“When I was in elementary school, the headteacher was so empowered that no student could misbehave. Parents could even come to the school and report their wards to teachers. Back then, teachers had authority.
“Today, teachers have been stripped of their power. There are cases where students report disciplinary actions to their parents, and the parents come to the school to attack the teachers. As a result, teachers are afraid to speak up because either the students or their parents will come after them,” he explained.