EDITORIAL: What A Primitive Way Of Thinking!

One of the factors attributed to the fallen standard of education in the country today, is the lack of discipline among pupils in our primary and Junior High Schools.

In the 1960s and 70s, discipline among pupils and students was very high, to the extent that the teacher was highly revered by parents in the various communities. This reflected in the standard of education at the time.

Unfortunately, the situation is not the same today, as students sometimes have the courage to insult their teachers. The use of the cane as a means of enforcing discipline in schools has also been outlawed.

This, coupled with poor remuneration and the refusal of teachers to accept postings to deprived areas of this country, has resulted in the continued falling standard of education in the country.

As stakeholders continue to devise means to arrest this depressing situation, and also encourage teachers to accept postings to rural areas, some unscrupulous people at Agortime-Afegame in the Volta Region, are said to have pounced on a teacher and subjected him to severe beatings for seizing mobile phones from students who were using them whilst teaching was going on.

The attackers were reportedly acting upon information from some of the students, that teachers of the school were too harsh on them, even though the latter were only trying to instill discipline in the students, in order to enhance their academic performance.

According to the story, the teacher, who has been named as Isaac Deku, was only spared from the knife-wielding attackers, when he pleaded with them that he was only trying to instill discipline among the students, to improve upon their academic performance.

Though Agortime-Afegame is a small community, the attackers are yet to be identified, even though a report has been made to both the police and the Parent Teacher Association (PTA).

The rest of the teachers, for fear of their dear lives, have reportedly vacated the school, leaving the students to their own fate.

The Chronicle finds this story a pathetic one, and it also has the potential to scupper the desire to improve upon standard of education in the country. There is no way a teacher, who believes in instilling discipline, would sit unconcerned for students to make or listen to calls on their mobile phones.

The Chronicle, therefore, sees the attack on the innocent teacher as unwarranted. We are appealing to the police at Kpetoe, to do everything possible to bring the perpetrators of this crime to book, before other teachers start refusing postings to the area.

Even in the game of football, discipline plays a crucial role for the success of a team, and we are at a loss as to why the people of Agortime-Afegame should see the seizure of mobile phones from students during class hours by a teacher, as a crime to merit such a barbaric attack.

This is surely a primitive way of doing things, and the only way to exorcise such bad character from the people, is to bring the perpetrators to book, to serve as a deterrent to others.

Source: The Chronicle