Introduction
Indiscipline constitutes one of the major issues schools face today. Almost all levels of the education space- primary, junior high school, senior high school/ TVET institutes and tertiary institutions – are grappling with acts of indiscipline on their campuses. Teaching as a profession is becoming increasingly riskier as the life of teachers, especially those that enforce discipline in the schools, is at stake. Acts of indiscipline are also threatening academic discipline and output in the schools.
Forms of Indiscipline in Schools
Illicit drug use is perhaps one of the major acts of indiscipline in the schools. For this act, kids as young as ten sometimes indulge in it. The use of substances such are ‘weed,’ heroine, tramadol and cocaine is on the rise in our schools. In many schools, stealing is becoming the norm rather than the exception. Some students are breaking into the boxes of their fellow students while others are caught for stealing items such as laptops, mobile phones and iPad of colleague students, teachers or townsfolks. Sexual offences in the form of harassment, molestation, pimping and rape are also common in our schools. But what is perhaps causing panic in the country is the increasing possession of weapons by some students.
Indiscipline, an old wine in a new wine skin
In recent times, the media have been reporting on cases of possession and use of weapons by some students. The recent case is the 16-year-old student of the Adventist Senior High School, Kumasi, who was alleged to have brought to school a locally manufactured gun of his father’s. In some cases, some of these culprits had succeeded in using these weapons on teachers or fellow students. It is important to point out that these acts are not entirely new. Some of these acts are not new on our campuses. They have been there for decades. Some people who schooled in Cape Coast or Swedru in the early 2000s might recall some of the horrible acts of some students in those years. There were reports of some students breaking into police armory and making away with weapons. In some parts of the north, there were reports of some students possessing knives which they kept in their trunks. Elsewhere, there were some reports of some students collaborating with some gangs in town to engage in car jacking and robbery. The above background indicates that acts of indiscipline are not entirely new in our schools. The emergence of social media and the growth of the traditional media is perhaps what appears to be making these issues frenzy and popular. While in the past, many people beyond the school did not get to hear of these acts, these acts are today trendy largely because of social media.
Peculiar Challenges Facing Schools and Universities Today
While there is a recognition that some of these acts may not be entirely new, there is also the established fact that schools and for that matter the universities face some peculiar challenges today; but which challenges were almost absent over two decades ago. In the first place, the student-teacher ratio in almost all schools has more than quadrupled. Some schools which used to have a total enrolment of 2000 students two decades ago now boasts of an enrolment in the region of eight thousand or more. In some of these schools, the highest number of teachers available is about two fifty. The situation becomes more serious when it gets to the house level. In some schools, the number of housemasters and house mistresses does not exceed fifteen. More troubling is the fact that in many schools, not more than two house masters or mistresses are resident on campus because of accommodation deficits. There are schools which have only the headmaster/mistress and one or two housestaff resident on the campus. Amidst these challenges, schools find it extremely difficult to control the large number of these students. Also, because of the large number of students, most teachers and house staff do not really know the names or the true identities of most of the students.
Policies on Discipline in Schools as Counterproductive?
Meanwhile, the elephant in the room has been the policies on school discipline. The past decade has seen so much unpredictability with regard to polices on school discipline. This is to say that unlike in the past when school leaders had so much internal control over matters of discipline in their schools, that is no longer the case in recent times. The increasing push for accountability in education has brought in its wake the participation of many stakeholders in the education space. This has thrown so much light on the activities of schools. The call for universal application of human right principles has also touched the schools as well. Today, the actions of schools are regulated by human right principles, accountability and constitutionalism. School heads have lost enforcement powers. Sanctions such as dismissal and suspension of students as control measures have been taken away from school leaders. Schools are thus overwhelmed with issues of indiscipline a lot of which the public is still not privy to despite the popularity of social and traditional media.
Use of Multidisciplinary Approach in Managing Acts of Indiscipline in schools
Amidst these challenges, schools must find ways of managing the increasing acts of indiscipline on their campuses. First, schools must use multidisciplinary approach in tackling the menace. The traditional method of inspection, roll call and on-the spot-checks by teachers must be intensified. This must be combined with the school-based counselling. The Ghana Education Service should equip the Guidance and Counseling units in the schools with well trained counsellors and psychologists. These professionals as part of their activities should organise regular seminars on topics ranging from negative consequences of substance abuse to the consequences of robbery and possession of firearms or weapons. The schools must collaborate with the Prison authorities in their districts to share experiences on prison life with the students. Where it is possible, some ex-convicts or serving prisoners should be used to share their experiences with the students. Schools can also identify some of their once-hardened old-students but who have now turned new leaf to serve as resource persons to the students on some important topics in the area of crime and misdemeanor. Schools should also collaborate with the Police Service and the NACOC to provide talks on crime statistics, consequences and implications for the students. Schools can also arrange with the prison and court authorities to allow schools to accompany some of the recalcitrant students to observe proceedings in the court rooms or pay visits to prison yards. Again, schools, should build strong partnership with the parents. This way, schools may get to know the students better. This can help in the tracking of the students.
Install AI-Powered CCTV Cameras on Campuses to Control Indiscipline.
Meanwhile, in the age of technology and digitalization, schools should combine these resources with the traditional approach in the combat of crime or indiscipline in the schools. One of such approaches is the installation of AI-powered CCTV cameras at vantage points in the school. The increasing enrolment in the schools is making it difficult for teachers to track all students in the schools. This can be made possible by the installation of CCTV cameras at the boarding houses, classrooms, school entrances and some other vantage points in the school. The case of Bishop Herman College in the Volta Region readily comes to mind. At Bishop Herman College, the installation of CCTV cameras in one of the boarding houses has reduced drastically acts such as stealing, possession and use of mobile phone, abuse of substances in the facilities, truancy and other misdemeanors. This was made possible by the support of the parents whose children are resident in the given house. At the school-wide level, the installation of these cameras can help check the movement of students. The cameras can also help to control the activities of intruders and trespasses, some of whose activities portend kidnapping in the schools. At a time when sexual offences on our campuses are on the rise, the installation of these devices can help put sch acts in check. An advantage of these devices is that they can provide real-time information on crime commission to school authorities. Given that the devices can function ubiquitously, school authorities can monitor the activities of students from their personal (authorities) handheld devices.
Make use of Software and Apps to Check Students
Schools can also leverage software such as Saprosoft and apps to build dossier on individual students. This dossier may serve the purpose of tracking the students. They can help to track behaviour patterns of students which school authorities can generate to provide interventions for such students. Such reports may also form the evidential basis for certain disciplinary actions against the students. Guidance and counselling units, form masters and housemasters and mistresses can make use of these records to profile the students and provide the students with the needed interventions. The software can also be used to provide real time information to parents on the behaviour and movement of their children. For instance, with this software, whenever a student applies for exeat to travel somewhere, an instant message will be sent to the parents. The parents will have to confirm that they are in the know that the student is traveling home. Should the parents say that they are not in the know, the office of the senior housemaster or mistress will automatically block the application, and the student put under monitoring by the house parents.
The Use of Biometric Systems and Metal Detectors Can Help Too.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Education and its agency, the Ghana Education Service can assist the schools to deploy the use of biometric system to help track the movement of students. The use of the tools can help track the movement of students and reduce truancy. This will help boost discipline and class attendance of some students. Also, schools, especially the well-established ones and the universities may have to consider the use of metal detectors and x-ray scanners in the schools. This can also contribute to clamping down on the possession of weapons by some students.
PTAs and Alumni Should Take the Lead in Procuring These systems for Thir Schools.
In all of these, the role of the PTAs is critical. Schools require resources to undertake these programmes. Considering that most schools do not have the financial wherewithal to carry out these projects, the support of the parents should be critical. In addition to the provision of building infrastructure, the installation of some of these systems in the schools could help enhance security in the schools. At the boarding house levels, a group of parents may contribute to install these systems in the houses of their children. Alumni may also support in this project as some have already done in some schools.
Conclusion
In summary, indiscipline is an evolving phenomenon. It is a hydra headed problem that requires a multiprong approach in its containment. The schools cannot succeed in this fight by relying solely on the traditional surveillance and periodic check approach. Stakeholders led by the GES should lead in the provision of robust policy on discipline in our schools. This policy should take into consideration the proverbial Ghanaian culture and realities. This measure should be combined with the deployment of technology in schools to contain acts of indiscipline. The deployment of AI-powered CCTV cameras can also help school leaders in the monitoring of teaching and learning in the classrooms. They can also help teachers to control prep periods in the schools.