The ranking member on the Education Committee of Parliament, Peter Kwasi Nortsu-Kotoe, has suggested to the Disciplinary Committee of the Chiana Senior High School (SHS) to consider suspension as a better option for the eight students.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) in a statement on January 13, 2023, made U-turn and referred the dismissed eight students of the school to the committee after the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo intervened.

Eight students of the school were dismissed for using some unprintable words against the President in a viral video in 2022 following the hardships in the country.

Mr. Nortsu-Kotoe believes a suspension will serve as a deterrent to other students, warning that the Minority will not come in next time a student misbehaves in any of the schools in the country.

Speaking on the Eyewitness News with Selorm Adonoo, the ranking member on the Education Committee of Parliament suggested, “If I were in the shoes of the school’s authorities, I think suspension will be a better option for these students. Once they are suspended, its in their records. And they will know that next time if any student misbehaves just like them, that student will not go scot-free. Suspension I think will serve as a deterrent to others”.

Mr. Nortsu-Kotoe expressed his appreciation to the President for listening to the Minority caucus in Parliament as well as Ghanaians by intervening.

“I appreciate the President’s intervention to mitigate the punishment given out to the eight students of Chiana SHS. This is because the minority thought the punishment was too harsh. Punishment is meant to correct so if you want to punish somebody, correct or reform the person, there are opportunities to reform these students because we don’t know what they will become in future. So I want to thank the President for listening to us [Minority] and all other Ghanaians who believed the punishment was too harsh,” Mr. Nortsu-Kotoe thanked the President.

He said if the students were earlier suspended by the school, there wouldn’t have been a public outcry for the President to intervene.

“If the students were suspended, this cry for the students wouldn’t have come in at all,” he stated.

Mr. Nortsu-Kotoe commended the GES for referring the matter to the school’s disciplinary committee.

“What the GES has done I think is also proper by referring the matter back to the school,” the ranking member on the Education Committee of Parliament remarked.