The Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, says bullying in Senior High Schools (SHS) must end immediately.
Commenting on the murder of a 17-year-old student of the Konongo Odumase SHS, the Minister said immediate action is being taken to ensure that no such thing occurs in any school across the country.
According to the Minister, government takes strong exceptions to the phenomenon and will be working with the Ghana Education Service to end it immediately.
The Minister was delivering an update on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education in Ghana at the Academic City University College.
“Strong discipline regime should prevail in schools. This morning I had a very sad moment speaking to the parents of Samuna Larhan, a student who was stabbed to death at Konongo Odumase.
“Very sad moment indeed, group of young men thinking that they are in Form 2, so they should direct what a Form 1 student should do.
“This has been something that’s been part of our school culture, and the time has come for it to end. ‘Homo’ has become a relic of the past, and it has no space in this century.”
According to Dr Adutwum, students must protect each other and not harm others simply because they are ahead of them on the education ladder.
“When new students enrol, and you happen to be in Form 2 or Form 3, you should be their keeper; we have to understand that we are each person’s keeper and not each other’s oppressor,” he said.
Bullying has become a culture in SHSs, especially where senior students molest junior students for no reason.
In most SHSs across the country, such a phenomenon has become so ingrained it has almost been taken as usual.
According to the Police, the students, who are being suspects in the alleged murder of the 17-year-old student, went on a bullying spree on the night of the incident.
“Preliminary investigation indicates that the suspects, who are Form 2 students of the school as mentioned above, went on a bullying spree on the night of Friday, November 5, after prep hours leading to the attack on the deceased, Samuna Larhan, aged 17.
“The victim was rushed to the Konongo Odumase Government Hospital for treatment but was pronounced dead on arrival,” the statement, signed by Director General of Public Affairs of the Police, ACP Kwesi Ofori, read.
