The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has described as harsh the dismissal of the eight students of Chiana Senior High School in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region.

The former deputy Education Minister said the Ghana Education Service should instead be suspended for an academic year and made to undergo counselling.

The eight female students were dismissed for making derogatory comments against President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in a viral video.

In an interview with Citi News, Mr. Ablakwa said though he condemns the act of the students, the GES should reconsider the punishment.

“I would have gone for some rustification, even if it was for an academic year and during that period, you counsel them and submit them to retraining.”

Child Rights International (CRI), a non-governmental organization has described the dismissal of the eight students of the Chiana Senior High School as wrong.

Although the organization outrightly condemns the students’ conduct, it said the Ghana Education Service (GES) dismissal is not only heavy-handed but injurious to the education of these students.

In a statement, Child Rights also demanded that the GES makes public the probe that informed the decision.

“CRI calls on GES to publish the findings of their investigations to the general public as stated in their earlier press release, highlighting the concerns of due processes followed in arriving at the conclusion of dismissal vis-à-vis the best interest of the child as enshrined in the Children’s Act (560) 1998.”