Parents angry as St. John’s Grammar Sch. sacks boarding students at night

St. John’s Grammar Senior High School at Achimota, Accra has sent out about eight (8) students home for allegedly bullying form 1 students.

The final year students, who are believed to have “molested” and “assaulted” other students for a period of time, were sent out of their dormitories on Monday night by the Headmaster of the school, Dr. Edmund K. Fianu, Power FM news has learnt.

According to some of the students, they were prevented by the school’s security officers from entering the school and had to spend the night outside the school under harsh conditions since they are not residents of Accra.

Parents’ Angry

Parents of the teenagers are infuriated by the Headmaster’s action, saying the school was not fair to their wards. One of them has vowed to sue the school, claiming the school had shirked its responsibilty of protecting the lives of the students.

Mr. Mawuli Mensah, a parent who lives in the Tema area said his 16 year old son got home late in the night.

“I kept wondering how he got home because as adults we are not able to go out at night because its a new site and criminals are likely to lay ambush,” he lamented.

After reading the letter that indicated that his son had been deboardinised, Mr Mensah said the school had treated his son unfairly. He argued that his son was not given the opportunity to defend himself, adding that he (his son)was not allowed to see the students who reported to school authorities that they had been bullied.

In his reply to the school which was copied to the Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Municipal Director of Education, Mr Mensah said “we are not happy with your decision sending our ward back home late.”

“Secondly, the subject matter regarding his deboardinisation is still not clearly stated for our comprehension. We were not informed about any happening in the school concerning our son prior to this unwarranted harsh and unsubstantiated allegation levelled against him,” Mr. Mensah stated.

To the angry father, his son under the age of eighteen (18) should have been invited with him to confirm the offence or misconduct the student was involved in.

He said “there are clear guidelines, rules and regulations pertaining to handling any offence committed in an institution” and added the content of the school’s letter alleging his ward had molested form one students and assaulted same did not sound well.

He added, “To be honest with you, we are very disappointed in the action you had taken against our ward to deboardinize him with no tangible reasons.”

Mr. Mensah recounted how the Headmaster, Dr. Fianu, verbally assaulted him and the other parents at the school when they followed up to the school on Tuesday to resolve the matter.

“The headmaster after making us wait for hours insulted us and asked us to do our worst,” he added.

Another guardian, Madam Lydia said her brother’s ward was not treated fairly especially when the school knew his parents live in Akim Oda in the Eastern region.

“My brother is a mechanic who had a lot of work to do to get money for his family but he spent the whole day in the school but the headmaster would not listen to us…actually I don’t know where this kid will stay and complete his education,” she bemoaned.

She said an Assistant Headmistress at the school asked them to go because nobody would resolve the matter.

School’s Position

When an Assistant Headmistress of the School, Rev. Betty Baidoo was reached on phone for her reaction she declined to explain to our reporter.

Rev. Baidoo said the school’s position was the right thing, adding that “we did what GES says we should do to students who bully.”

She would not reveal whether the school provided an opportunity to the affected students to defend themselves or not. She also declined to comment on whether or not the deboardinised students were caught in the act.