Pupils Privacy At Risk: Does GES Have Social Media Policies?

So, let's get this straight and right.
It's not cool for any teacher to film or take a photograph of a pupil or student without parental consent or approval from an authority. How would you feel if someone or another teacher did that to your child?

Of course, you'd feel livid and perhaps attempt to beat the hell out of the individual. BUT some teachers have been filming school pupils (most of them minors) without the kids' parents consent.

In my view, this is morally wrong and unethical. However, the practice is increasingly becoming a new normal, and I don't think that should be the case.

No, this shouldn't happen in Ghana----a country that's a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ghana signed the treaty on 29 January 1990.

And to demonstrate its commitment, the country went ahead and ratified its membership on the 25th of February same year.

Basically, what this means is nations that ratify this convention are bound to it by international law.

For sometime and quite recently, I've seen several videos on social media--WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter etc featuring school pupils either being ridiculed or subjected to punishment.

Last Wednesday, in one of such videos two pupils, are seen being mocked by a teacher because they couldn't pronounce a certain word correctly or speak good English. When one of the pupils attempts to use vernacular to explain himself better, the teacher objects.

At the background of the clip, the teacher is heard laughing hysterically, while still filming the minors. The footage is about a minute long.

A second one has a group of pupils taking a kneel outside the classrooms of a particular school, as their teachers look on pleasingly.

In a third video a female teacher orders some pupils in her class to get on a concrete floor face-down, while she vigorously stomp on her victims ( the pupils) like trampoline.

The paradox is as horrible and inhumane as that might be, she (the teacher) doesn't seem troubled and caring.

I'm not through yet, there's another that surfaced sometime last year. I did shed light on it.

In the said video a teacher is seen head-butting a student. His crime?

You'll be shocked!
He wasn't wearing a decent attire, according to the teacher.

With a tool that looks like a pair of scissors the teacher rips apart the student's cloth. He's aided by his colleague teachers. He shows no mercy absolutely no mercy as he roughs up his victim (the student).

The list can go on and on and on.
Certainly, there're many more of such videos globetrotting.

Where did professionalism and decency go?
And I'm sure many just like me will like to know this-: Can a teacher film a pupil?

The answer is yes and no---depending on what's to be filmed or photographed.

Plus, the teacher must get a parent's consent and authority's approval (it could be the principal or headmaster of the school).

Thing is not all countries in the world allow such practice i.e. grant teachers explicit permission to take pictures of students or pupils.

For example, in the United States, particularly, the state of California under the California Education Code Section 51512, it's illegal for any person- including a student to use an electronic device to record what's happening in the classroom without the consent of the teacher.

That means it"s not prohibitive for one to video or take pictures but one must do so per consent and approval as I aforesaid.

In contrast to the above-mentioned videos, I remember, around March 2018, CNN aired a story about a certain Richard Appiah Akoto-- a Ghanaian teacher who was using blackboard as computer to teach his pupils.

That video went viral, the teacher received desktops and tablets from donors to facilitate learning in the deprived school.

Isn't that beautiful?
Same tool but completely different results.
See, the problem I've with the previous videos is that they all sought to abuse the privacy of the children and they definitely did not follow due process or seek parental consent. if such policy ever exists. Of course, no parent would okay such nonsense or uncouth behaviour.

Things to do
There're at least three important questions we need to ask before we put children's identification---face, name out there.

First, we've to ask: Is there anything personally identifiable in this post?

For example like Mr. Akoto's classroom video.
Second, do I have permission to post the material or film the pupil?.

And third, is the posting furthering student's learning? Again, Akoto's case is a classic example.

Always remember what you've in your hand. That's right. The tool you've in your hand can produce far-reaching consequences.

This one has to be mindful and apply good judgment. ..Because as someone once stated:

'Social media policies will never be able to cure stupid, " Nicole Kelly a tech expert.

That's so true. It's like pursuing a fly in a jungle.

Pete Cashmore, CEO Mashable also said this: " Privacy is dead, and social media hold the smoking gun."

Are we safe?
Can you imagine if there are no policies in place to sort of manage this tech-domain?

What kind of society would we find ourselves in, if we act as spectators and do nothing to check this stupidity (excuse my french).

Can you imagine being secretly filmed by someone say on a bus or at a pub and the next thing, you find the video on social media?

Admittedly, the policies will not cure the stupidity or serve as panacea to the putrid but it will help manage or reduce its ascendancy.

According to Groupe Special Mobile (GSMA), two-thirds of the world's population are connected by mobile devices.

In 2016, an estimated 62.9 per cent of the population worldwide already owned a mobile phone. The number is expected to plateau to the five billion (4.68 bn.) mark by 2019.

Does GES have Social Media policies?
Given the rate at which the pendulum is swinging, I believe we risk losing our total privacy, if the government and Ghana Education Service (GES), do not enforce the regulations and measures they have in place.

I know the service has banned corporal punishment (the use of canes or canning) in schools but I am not sure if GES has social media policies that will help protect the pupils' privacy.

"If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell six friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet they can each tell 6,000 friends," Jeff Bezo, CEO Amazon.com.

Indeed, I fear we will be found naked, especially our kids because we're already naked. I am therefore, appealing to Ghana government, Ministry of Education and GES to consider looking into this social media policy thing, if they haven't done that yet.

Also, I urge the GES to try and find the teachers in those videos and sanction them accordingly. I think their actions and inactions have hugely affected the privacy of the pupils.

Elsewhere in the United Kingdom (UK) the Department of Education has what it describes a 'clearer guidance' for teachers on how they should deal with behaviour in schools.

In conclusion, I think the earlier the authorities come out with cutting-edge social media policies that will protect the privacy of school pupils the better. Still, bearing in mind that the policies won't cure the putrid but they'll no doubt help minimise it.