The 4 Accra Academy Students Handed to Police for Cutlass Flogging Has Been Described By Ghanaians as a Welcomed News Following the viral video that took over the internet.
The video spreading on social media showed a student allegedly flogging his colleagues with the flat end of a cutlass raised concerns and fears among the viewers, parents, the school community, the Ministry of Education, The Ghana Education Service and other stakeholders.
In a statement written by the management of Accra Academy on Sunday, February 2, while addressing concerns over the footage, it said the incident occurred on January 17, but the victims did not report it to school authorities.
“It is understandable that this incident has caused alarm and worry among our parents and guardians, and we want to assure you that we take this matter very seriously,” the statement reads.
The statement also states that the four (4) students are named as follows: Shadad Aliu, a.k.a. Kester (IVA 1), Haleem Jibril, a.k.a. Chopper (3Bus 5), Ahmed Dauda, a.k.a. Foreigne (3GA S), and Richard Ninsin, a.k.a. Poisonous (SGA 5) are day students and they have been asked to stay away from school pending further investigation.
“[However], as soon as the video came to our attention, we sprang into action to investigate and address the situation,” the statement added.
It was also said that the weapon used was brought from their home and not taken from the school.
The matter is still under investigation by the school’s disciplinary committee.
The school management has urged them to remain calm, stating that appropriate action will be taken once the matter has been thoroughly investigated.
In a related development, a cross-section of the Ghanaian public has called out the school for failing to protect the identity of the students who were involved in the act. Those raising concerns have argued that the students are minors and that their school should have written its press release without mentioning the names of the suspects and the victims.
Others are also of the view that there is nothing wrong with naming and shaming such students since their act was done in public and videoed.
Discpline among students in Senior High Schools is all time low with students engaging in all manner of acts that make us woder if these students come from homes where rules and regulatsion and proper up bringing is done by parents.
While the act has been captured on video for the first time, it may not be the first time such barbaric acts have happened in the school and in other public senior high schools in Ghana in recent times.
There is a need for a critical and urgent look at discipline and rules and regulations in our schools. Some have argued that, since all forms of corporal punishment have been sacrificed, Ghana should look forward to worse and more worrying behaviours than these.
The 4 students of Accra Academy who flogged their colleagues with a cutlass have shown the ugly side of indiscipline, which has grown wings in our secondary schools. If such behaviours and students are not tamed and dealt with, they will soon flood our society, work places and creat a woerying future for this nation.
This Accra Academy students flogged their colleague with cutlass have also tarnished the image of the school, its leadership and teachers.