Accra: The Frimpong-Manso Institute (FMI) has called for an urgent national response to address what it describes as the alarming rise in indiscipline in schools and the deepening moral decay within the wider Ghanaian society.
According to Ghana News Agency, the Institute issued a statement in Accra, signed by its President, Rev. Prof. Paul Frimpong-Manso, highlighting that recent disturbing videos and images of violent misconduct during inter-school athletics competitions have shocked the conscience of the nation and attracted widespread national and international condemnation.
The statement noted that these incidents followed another troubling episode involving male students who were captured sexually assaulting a female colleague in broad daylight at the Kumasi Sports Stadium-an act described by the Institute as 'unthinkable' and indicative of a broader national issue.
The FMI observed that although the Central Regional authorities promptly suspended annual inter-school sporting events following the molestation incident, such knee-jerk reactions merely 'scratch the surface of deep-rooted and hydra-headed problems of waywardness' in Ghana's educational institutions.
According to the Institute, the current situation requires 'brutal frankness' and decisive policy action. It therefore called for the immediate establishment of a national committee, or committees, comprising broad stakeholders to investigate the breakdown of discipline in schools and the deteriorating moral values across the country.
The Institute proposed that the eventual findings of such committees be subjected to national debate and scrutiny to ensure that appropriate policy solutions are implemented with the requisite seriousness. While advocating structural reforms, the FMI stressed that parents, churches, and other religious organisations also have an urgent responsibility to 'go the extra mile' to shape the behaviour, character, and moral values of children and their members.