The Whistle-blower Act: A way to curb bullying in schools

I suppose nearly nine in ten people who have gone through the boarding school system would readily recount their ordeal and never stop. This piece looks beyond merely telling my side of the story and probably the trauma of several other colleagues.

However, this article seeks to briefly paint a picture of the thousand and one 'stabbing' junior students have to endure and why a whistle-blower act/law is the way to go.

Students in the third and second years of second cycle institutions, as we have heard in this terrible incident, bully their fellow students with impunity. This incident raises the larger question of whether there are any hard and fast rules regarding bullying in our schools.

Many students in the lower forms or classes have persistently been stabbed everywhere in their physical bodies. They have literally been stabbed in the head just by excessive knocks. They have persistently been stabbed in the ear by threatening word of mouth.

The same holds true for the knees, the stomach, and so forth. These students are made to kneel down for long hours and starve up until the perpetrator obviously gets satisfied. In a broader context, one can choose a whole host of examples here in terms of a "stab."

For the record, this maltreatment is totally unacceptable and not backed by any law whatsoever. By parity of reasoning, perpetrators of such acts go on bullying sprees in their hideouts.

It is about time the Ghana Education Service (GES) upped its game by way of incorporating a whistle-blower act or law into their set of rules. Students must be encouraged to be forthcoming with first-hand information and whereabouts of bullying sprees in and outside dormitories. That said, the whistle-blowers' law must protect and not blow the veil off the whistle-blower.

Plus, all the rules and regulations as set out by the Ghana Education Service must be reinforced so it can crack the whip on these recalcitrant students. This is definitely a good time to not relax and leave any rules to chance.
My heart goes out to the bereaved family of LarhanSam’un.

Jerry Avornyotse is a freelance journalist and writer, and a PR intern/researcher with the Ministry of Roads and Highways.