Mrs Seyram Abra Geni-Aidam, Ho Municipal Girls Education Officer, has called on parents to extend supervision to their wards in boarding schools.
She said more children in boarding schools suffered parental neglect as they endured one of the most critical stages of their education, and that parents needed to reconsider the residential school application.
Mrs Geni-Aidam was speaking at the inauguration of a day care centre for the high-altitude community of Ashanti Kpoeta in the Ho West District of the Volta Region.
She asked parents to consider the residential school as a wild bootcamp for youth development, and that personal supervision would be needed to ensure total welfare and development.
Sharing some experiences as a senior high school tutor, girls’ education officer said, “some parents don’t visit their children for the entire school years.
“Parents come and just hand over their children. One parent came to me and said, ‘I am leaving my child in your hands. And I told him, no please. You can’t leave your child in my hands. I also have children. We must set our priorities right.”
She said, nonetheless, the school retained responsibility over the total development of the child, and thus teachers must provide the needed care and counselling and seek to win the confidence of their students.
Mrs Geni-Aidam said teachers must not lose sight of the need for discipline, and that parents must provide the necessary support for child development.
“We have to discipline our children because an undisciplined child is a catastrophe to the nation”, she said, adding, “Government policy does not prevent disciplining of children at home although it prohibits corporal punishment in schools.”
Wisdom of Wisdom, the daycare centre being inaugurated, was established by a private individual to support parenting in the community known among the highest settlements in Ghana, and the school charges a pittance of one cedi per day.
The Girls Education officer commended the initiative and said the private school system remained immovable within the essence of nation education development and should be supported to provide the required environment for academic and social development.
She said private schools would need to collaborate more with the GES to be able to maintain education programming relevant to the times.
Mr. Edward Wallace Tagbo, a social philanthropist with Christian leanings, founded the centre with the aim of helping parents of the agrarian community juggle childcare and agro labour.
He said he sought to support the state school system to meet the dynamic needs of children in the community, and that the daily sustenance fee of one cedi was being maintained for affordability.
The proprietor said the establishment progressed towards a complete basic school on his personal efforts and the commitment of parents, and therefore appealed to the Local Assembly and aid organizations for help.
The institution currently has 87 children enrolled in creche, kindergarten and basic school, and is being run by seven staff, including trained teachers.
GNA