Accra August 25, –The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr. Solomon K. Obeng has directed members of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), to dismiss instantly, any student found drunk or smoking marijuana or cigarette. He stated that it would be a show of patriotism for the members of the CHASS as well as the teachers of secondary schools to ensure a high standard of discipline in schools. Mr. Obeng who was speaking said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra today said any anti-social activity or any kind of behaviour likely to land the reputation of the school into disrepute must be checked immediately. The director-general said however that, to prevent any incident of victimisation, students caught in the web must be given a fair hearing by the disciplinary committee of the school. He said offending students must first be sent on suspension so as not to affect the moral uprightness of the rest of the students or influence investigations. Such suspensions, Mr. Obeng said, should however, not last for more than two weeks, while thorough investigations are underway to ascertain the veracity of the offence. The director- general noted that ”no nation could be able to develop, given all the world’s resources, if her youth are engaged in drug addiction and the pushing of drugs’. He said the dismissals of the bad-nuts “will serve as a deterrent to the rest of the student-body in the maintenance of discipline in the schools”.
